Gutta Mamis (17 page)

Levi's face wrinkled.

“Hold up, why Levi? I'm the one in debt. I'll be your little errand boy,” McDaniel voiced.

“Two months! You won't give us the money until the next two months?” Levi questioned, his tone filled with disgust.

Ruben looked at Levi, but what came out of his mouth was the answer to McDaniel's question. “Because I want to break him.”

And there it was, the answer to everyone's assumptions. Ruben hated Levi for some unknown reason.

He turned to Levi and answered his question. “In two months, after everything's done, you'll get your money.” And without another word, he stood up and left from out his living room.

McDaniel looked at his brother. He was the oldest, but Levi always took the lead, leaving him to do nothing but follow.

“What do we do?”

Levi didn't want to answer; he was too engulfed in anger. It took all he had not to run behind his cousin and beat some sense into him.

“We do what he says. But while we wait on the money, you can't stay in L.A. You have to hide out somewhere. Somewhere not even he knows about.” Levi nodded his head in the direction Ruben left in. Seconds later, he reappeared, taking the seat he occupied prior.

“Deal or no deal?”

Levi faced his cousin and without hesitation answered, “Deal.” His guard was laid down and off the strength of his brother, he would do what he had to in order to save his life.

“Great.” Ruben stood up. “You start now. If you're going to work for me, there are a few things you should know.”

“I don't need to know anything about your business, Ruben,” Levi responded.

“Of course you do. You're my cousin and I have a feeling you'll do so well that I'll want you permanently on my payroll. I always wanted you to work for me,” Ruben antagonized.

Levi looked into space, semi-listening to everything he said.

“But first we have fun.” Ruben smiled and on cue, the doorbell rang. He walked to the entrance and opened it for a group of women clad in tight skirts and heels. Within seconds, a few of them flocked to Levi and McDaniel, their hands exploring their bodies while playing Christopher Columbus. Their laughs filled the air, but all Levi and McDaniel could do was stare at one another and wish they didn't need Ruben.

A toddler ecstatic to see her new baby brother banged on the glass from on top of her uncle's shoulders and shook Levi from his past. He looked in the nursery at the child whose attention the little girl was desperately trying to receive. He smiled. The newborn was a spitting image of his sister. Soon after, Levi's eyes jumped from child to child. Life was different when you weren't aware of the horrors that lay in the world, so in that moment, Levi wished he could trade places with either of those children. His eyes landed on Ruben's firstborn. His face dropped in shame and his leg shook in fear. It wasn't until he was the only one staring at the babies did his hand touch the glass and he told her, “I'm sorry.”

He had no choice but to accept Bobbi's offer. She didn't require much, and in some kind of way he would be making up for what he'd done, not to mention she agreed to pay off McDaniel's debt faster than Ruben. Levi looked one last time at the child. He wasn't at all sorry for betraying his cousin, however, he was sorry that he was betraying his new family.

Tucked away in a dark corner, Bobbi watched her prey who was in a deep slumber. Her past face stared back at her and reminded her of what used to be. Her heart rate sped up and she practiced maintaining control by pacing her breaths. The figure in bed tossed and turned, her legs kicked, and head moved from side to side, discomfort disturbing her rest. The hospital door opened, blocking Bobbi's view of Robbi. In walked an elderly African American woman who made her way to Robbi's bedside. Observing her restless sleep, she placed her hand on her arm in an effort to calm her down. Robbi's eyes shot open and her body twisted out her reach.

“Who are you!” she shrieked, her head inches off the pillow while her mind fought to make sense of what was taking place.

The nurse smiled, unfazed by her frazzled behavior. “It's okay, sweetheart, you had a bad dream. I'm Nurse Teller.” She paused, smiling at Robbi so that she could see she came in peace. But by the look on Robbi's face, it was obvious that she was still wound up and had yet to relax.

“Oh,” was the only thing that escaped her mouth. She had given birth over four hours ago and there was still no sign of Ruben. Her head sunk into the pillows and tears tumbled from her eyes. She turned away from Nurse Teller, unwilling to have her see the defeated look splashed across her face.

“I was told you've been complaining about pain due to the C-section. I'm here to give you something and then I'll be on my way.”

Agitated that the nurse was still in her presence, Robbi held out her hand without looking her way. “Let's get this over with,” she spat. Rushing Nurse Teller to drop the pills in the center of her hand, she wiggled her fingers.

An uneven grin crossed Nurse Teller's lips.

“Oh no, my dear. I have to give you a needle.”

Robbi wiped away her tears and turned in the nurse's direction. “Fine, just hurry up. I want to be alone.”

Her nasty tone of voice made Nurse Teller proud to give her a needle; it was people like her she liked bringing pain to.

“Sit up, honey, and hold your arm straight out for me.”

Robbi did as she was told. Glancing around the room, she felt the nurse prep her for her needle, then finally felt her injecting the meds.

“All done! See, it wasn't that bad.”

Robbi didn't respond; she waited for her to clean her wound and cover it with a bandage. When she finished her task, Robbi said one last thing to her.

“Why is this room so dark? Can I get some light in here?”

“Of course, on my way out, I'll turn on the light.”

Slowly, Nurse Teller headed for the door, her small hands cutting on all the lights while closing the door behind her. “Goodnight, sweetheart. Now don't scream too loud.”

Before Robbi got a chance to respond to her comment, the nurse had closed the door, giving Robbi a clear view of Bobbi.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” It was like seeing a ghost. The last time Robbi saw her sister was months ago. She had been standing with Ruben by her side, telling Bobbi she was pregnant.

“I can't see my sister after she gives birth?”

“Where's Ruben!”

“In L.A. Where else would he be?”

“Don't fuck with me, Bobbi! Where is Ruben? What did you do to him?”

Robbi was sitting upright, her body trembling in fear. It was hard for her to accept that Ruben screwed her over, so instead she blamed it on her twin.

“I have nothing to do with his absence. He abandoned you and that little bastard all on his own.”

“Get the fuck out!” she yelled. Tears welled in her eyes. She thought she finally had Ruben all to herself.

“I'll leave when you don't have my husband's child…oops, you already have. So I guess that means I'm not going anywhere.” Bobbi leaned over, her elbows positioned on her knees. She cocked her head to the right and the light bounced off the tightness of her left cheek.

“You're so ugly. I wish you succeeded when you tried killing yourself.”

Robbi's stunning face was drenched in tears. What she never told her sister was that she missed her—but not in the everyday sense. She missed how she used to be before she met Ruben; she missed her inner beauty and her drive to become a surgeon. Bobbi wasn't the only one who found it hard living in her new skin; her twin suffered, too, with every day that passed.

Robbi's affair with Ruben started when she tried to tear him and Bobbi apart. She wanted her sister to have her life back and the only way she saw that happening was if she seduced her husband and got her from under his thumb, but it didn't work. Not only did Bobbi not leave her husband, but Robbi fell for Ruben. Her
entire scheme had changed within the snap of a finger. Long gone was her determination to save her sister. Robbi had now set out to keep her man.

Bobbi's hand flew up to her neck, rubbing the spot where her scar once was. Before Harvey died, he removed the recurring reminder. He never got a chance to work on her face, but he did get a chance to right the biggest wrong she had ever committed.

“I guess we can't always get what we want,” Bobbi whispered. The comment stung. Her older sister had wished death on her when she was the one recovering from giving birth to her twin's husband's illegitimate child.

Robbi wanted to say more, but the stiffness in her feet prevented her from speaking. She tried to wiggle her toes, but nothing moved, so she tried her feet and got the same response. Bobbi watched her eyes stare holes into her feet.

“Why did you do it?”

Robbi took her eyes from off her numb feet and redirected her attention to her sister.

“Because I wanted you to have your life back. It was a ploy to get you to leave him.”

“And when it didn't work?”

“I fell for him.”

Bobbi thought she'd have so much to say when she finally came face to face with Robbi. The last time she saw Robbi she had told her she was pregnant with Ruben's child. Bobbi never got the chance to express how she felt. Never got the chance to tell her that him getting her pregnant was only a way for him to control her, just like her having work done on her face was his way of controlling her. But now that she was back in front of Robbi, she had nothing to say.

“Walk away, Bobbi, and let it go.”

Bobbi leaned her upper body forward, her hands folded and elbows planted on her thighs.

“I'll walk away when I make you go away,” she whispered.

Robbi's eyes got big and then against her will, they slowly dropped. She felt her body become relaxed. Her eyes flew open and she opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, her body rocking back and forth before finally falling back on the bed and becoming unconscious. Bobbi walked to Robbi's bedside and pressed the call button for a nurse. Seconds later Nurse Teller walked in with a middle-aged nurse, and Smith, dressed in scrubs. Bobbi retreated into the bathroom and changed into her surgical scrubs. When she reentered the room, the surgical instruments were neatly arranged, and everyone was stationed and ready to go.

Bobbi stood beside Smith, scared to actually partake in her dream.

“You make the first cut.” Smith handed her the scalpel, his eyes never leaving Robbi.

Bobbi grabbed the instrument from Smith and he stepped out of her way. Bobbi cut into Robbi's face, doing exactly as Harvey had taught her.

“Cut into half of her face and let me do the rest.” Smith was enraged, angry that his partner was dead, and he wanted revenge. He anticipated the moment Bobbi finished her part so that he could cut off Robbi's face and hold it in his hands.

Bobbi heard Smith but didn't comment. Instead, she concentrated on the barbaric act and didn't speak until she was finished. Nothing would ever be the same. In the short amount of time Bobbi and Harvey spent together, she could proudly admit that they were the greatest moments of her life; she thought she would live like that forever; she would have lived like that forever if it weren't for
her husband. Now she had to take away everything he had, but before her journey of destruction could begin, she had to warn him and send him a gift.

Bobbi finished cutting, blood staining her gloves. She looked up at the nurses. The Russian woman observed the machinery while Nurse Teller dabbed the blood escaping Robbi's face so that the surgery wouldn't be difficult to carry out. Bobbi shook her head.
Why do we have all of this when we're going to kill her anyway?
she thought. But she didn't bother voicing that to Smith; he was the new Harvey once it came to the operating room, so she had to follow his lead.

Smith rushed over to Robbi. He cut into her face so swiftly and with such force, all three women jumped the second he made his first incision. He wasn't working with the mindset of a plastic surgeon, but with the emotion of a friend. Minutes later, Smith dropped the instrument on the tray and without bothering to use the proper equipment, with all his might, ripped her face off. He held it in his hands and laughed at his victory. The Russian nurse rushed to the bathroom and threw up her dinner, while Nurse Teller ignored the act and after taking the face from Smith, placed it in the proper packaging, then proceeded to clean up the room.

“When will she wake up?” Bobbi asked.

“She's not.”

Bobbi looked at Smith, unaware of what he was talking about.

“You knocked her out and paralyzed her entire body. What are you talking about, she's not going to wake up?”

“She's dead, surprise!” Smith yelled, a smile plastered on his face.

Bobbi was surprised; she had no clue during her sister's facial removal that she was dead. They'd had an agreement that they would drug her, take off her face, and then kill her. Bobbi didn't
know how to feel. Half of her was happy that her sister was gone and the other half angry that she wasn't the one to inject her with the deadly poison.

Her silence made Smith understand what he'd done. He took away what was meant for her to do.

“I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. I guess I got carried away. It was too great of an opportunity to pass up. If hurting Ruben meant killing her, then I had to…”

Bobbi threw her hand in the air, cutting him off. “What did you just say?”

“I said it was too great of an…”

“No, before that.”

Smith shut up, replaying his statement in his head. “I said I couldn't help myself. I guess I got carried away.”

And just like that Bobbi was thrown into a time machine and taken back to the days when Harvey was alive.

“Harvey, keep fucking with my product and I'm going to send you to Colombia and have them stuff your balls with that shit.”