Page 48 of Intent to Kill
“Hey,” Mercedes said as she came up at Tia’s side.
Tia grunted as Mercedes’ shadow loomed over her. “What the hell do you want?” She wiped a few loose tears, highlighting the bags under her eyes and the darkness of her bruised face.
Mercedes kneeled down at her side. “What happened to your face?”
“You know, same old.” Tia laughed through tears.
“Bosses or customers?”
“A little of both.”
Mercedes nodded and placed her white rose down on the dirt. “What’s her name?”
Seeming surprised by the question, Tia glanced suddenly at Mercedes’s eyes as if to see if they were genuine. Turning away to answer, she said, “Sophia.”
“Did I...?”
“You didn’t know her,” Tia confirmed.
Mercedes shuffled on her knees, resting her hands on her thighs, uncaring of the mud hugging her calves. “What happened to her?”
Tia scoffed. “What didn’t? She was too pure for this... Man, they didn’t even give her a chance.”
Mercedes bowed her head as Tia let a chorus of tears flow down her face, staring off into the distance like she didn’t even know the droplets were there.
“It doesn’t have to be like that, you know.” Mercedes fought for Tia’s gaze.
“Don’t start with that shit again,” Tia said. “You know I don’t want to hear it.”
“I know you just want to protect your girls, Tia, that’s all I want to do.”
“I’m not having this conversation with you,” Tia said. “It’s dangerous enough just being seen with you. I won’t challenge Dorian Blake.”
“You don’t have to; we will,” Mercedes said.
“My God, you are so naïve. You forget—I was there the first time. I watched you try and take him down. Look how that turned out.”
“You come here a lot to visit your girls. So many of them dead on the job. Murdered. They don’t deserve that, Tia.” Mercedes kept her tone hard. She had come to understand that it took someone brave to stand up against the status quo. Somebody had to be the person willing to risk it all to change it all. Nothing great ever came from accepting things the way they were.
Finally, Tia broke. She hugged Sophia’s headstone, most of her body covering her epitaph, arms open with her head hanging in between them. Through broken tears she gasped intermittently to say, “I...just wanted to...protect them.”
“I know.” Mercedes hugged Tia’s shoulder and ran soothing circles up her arm. “Let us help you do that. Please, Tia.”
Taking a chance, Mercedes rested her head on Tia’s shoulder, but she only managed to hold it there for a few seconds before Tia straightened up and pushed her off.
“I want to believe that you can, honey, but like I said, I watched you fail the first time. I watched you lose everything. I watched you break down when the person you loved died. Why the hell would you four want to take another shot when it cost a life the first time?”
Mercedes sighed and flicked her tongue against her teeth. She looked back at Paul and Adam under the oak tree and remembered how she had felt the day before. Finally alive after years of hiding. Her stomach falling out of her gut with the sheer thrill of the chase and the memory of who she was truly meant to be. Not Dorian’s wife, but a legend of her own making.
It was no longer going to be easy. If they wanted to win, they had to be willing to put it all on the line.
It was time.
God, she hoped she was making the right decision.
“Can I trust you?” Mercedes said to Tia, her face pained.
Tia’s face dropped, like she could kill her with a glare. A fair reaction. Tia had kept more secrets than she should’ve for Mercedes in the past. Mercedes looked back at Adam and Paul, hesitantly waving them over.
