Life After a Balla (26 page)

“You’re right, it’s all my fault. I should’ve helped him…I should’ve helped him,” Felicia belted.

With no strength left to fight, Skye climbed off Felicia. They both laid side by side on the floor weeping.

“I’m so sorry,” Felicia repeated.

“Who did this? Who kill him?”

“My husband’s brother, Dre. He killed Kareem and Cruze.”

Skye’s heart dropped. “Oh my God Cruze is dead, too? No wonder he never called me back. Noooooo. What happened? Tell me what happened?”

“Cruze died trying to protect your son,” Felicia informed. “Right before Kareem died he wanted me to tell you something. He wanted you to know how much he loved you and that he was sorry for everything.”

Skye wailed again. “No…no…no. Please God, no.”

“I just wanted to know what happened to Justice since the police didn’t seem concerned. I told Dre I would give him half of Justice’s life insurance money if he helped me so I could have closure. I’m so sorry Skye, I never meant for any of this to happen. I should’ve helped Kareem get away. But instead I watched Dre murder them both,” she cried. “It took me days to finally get the courage to come over here and tell you. Dre would kill me if he knew I was here, but I don’t care. I wanted you to know what happened. I didn’t want you to go through the same thing I did.”

Skye held a blank expression for what seemed forever. She was so happy that Jordan slept in such a comatose state because the last thing Skye wanted right now was for him to find out that his brother was gone. It felt like Skye’s heart had been ripped out and shredded into tiny little pieces.

“So, you watched my son die?” Skye finally asked.

“Yeah, just like you watched my husband die,” Felicia replied.

It was at the moment when Skye realized that they were both in the same position. She also realized that Felicia could’ve easily gone back to Georgia and never said a word. To Skye, the pain of not knowing what happened to her son would’ve been far too much to bear, so at the very moment she felt grateful.

“Seems like we both got something on each other, huh?” she said to Felicia. “Well, if you don’t go to the police then neither will I.”

Epilogue

One Year Later

Asia sat in the court room awaiting her verdict in a daze. It was almost as if she was having a bad dream or watching a Lifetime movie about somebody else’s life instead of her own. In the past, she’d always managed to ease herself out of any tight situation that came her way. But karma had finally caught up with her. Out of all the bad things she’d done in her life she never expected to be in prison facing a second degree murder charge. Even though all the other charges had been dropped, and her attorney had requested that Judge Randolph not preside over the case, she knew that the new judge was planning to throw the book at her. He’d been eyeing her in a hateful way throughout the entire trial.

Guilt consumed Asia as she thought about her son. He was such a blessing from God and instead of slowing her lifestyle down and being a good mother, she’d allowed greed to get in the way, neglecting her beautiful baby boy. Her heart ached at the fact that she didn’t know where he was or even have any pictures of him for memories.

I hope my son ends up with a good family that’ll give him the love he deserved. I also hope that one day I’ll get to see him again, she thought.

Minutes later, Asia stood as the verdict was about to be read. She closed her eyes and said quick prayer.

It’s probably too late to ask for help God after all the wrong I’ve done, but please protect me right now, she thought.

The judge asked the jury if they reached a verdict.

“Yes sir, Your Honor,” the jury foreman replied. When the bailiff passed a piece of paper to the judge, he looked at it then proceeded.

“On the count of murder in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Asia Jones, guilty,” he read.

You could hear the people’s reaction throughout the courtroom.

“Asia Jones, you’ve been charged with second degree murder. Since your defense has requested an expedited sentencing, I hereby sentence you to ninteen years, with eligibility for parole in eight. This sentence is to be served immediately at the Dade Correctional Institution,” the judge stated.

As soon as he hit the gavel, Asia started crying uncontrollably. She always heard the saying, “If you do the crime yu have to do the time,” but she never thought it would apply to her. When the officers came over to handcuff her she collapsed onto the floor.

****

Felicia admired the panoramic view as she walked out the double French doors at her villa in Barbados. After giving Justice a proper burial and putting closure on that part of her life, she packed up and moved to the islands. It felt good to finally be moving on. After talking with Skye she was able to let go of the guilt she was carrying about Kareem’s and Cruze’s death as well.

She also disassociated herself from Dre and his negative energy. He’d used her during one of the worst times in her life and she planned to give him exactly what he deserved.

****

Dre arrived at Felicia’s house all smiles. Although she’d been very distant towards him ever since the murders, today was the day the check was due to arrive from Justice’s life insurance policy, so she’d called and told him to come by to get what he’d earned. Happy that Felicia had kept her word, Dre put the key inside the door and walked inside. The smile he’d been consuming all day instantly faded when he realized the house was empty. His mouth dropped. The only thing left was the fire place poker set. At that moment, it was obvious things weren’t gonna go as planned.

In a fit of rage, Dre took his fist and hit the wall leaving a huge hole in the plaster. “If it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t have that fuckin’ life insurance money!” he belted.

When he looked towards the kitchen and saw a white envelope on the counter he walked over and grabbed it. Suddenly, he became anxious and excited when he saw his name on the envelope. Oh shit, I was gettin’ upset for nothin’. Felicia must’ve left the check here, he thought.

Dre opened the envelope with all smiles once again. However, instead of a check inside there was a small piece of paper that read:

Who would’ve ever thought you did this all for the money. I hope your ulterior motive was worth it. You get nothing, murderer
!

****

Skye sat on the couch in her new home in Daytona Beach, Florida with a bottle of wine listening to music and crying. She looked up at the huge picture of Kareem hanging over her fire place. It was his birthday.

She raised her hand, making a toast as the tears flowed heavily. “Here’s to you my oldest son. I miss you so much.”

Burying her first born son had proven to be one of the hardest things she’d ever done in her life. On the other hand, Skye was happy that Felicia was later able to convince Dre to tell her where Kareem’s body was a week after his death. However, he refused to tell her where Cruze was.

Felicia anonymously called the police so they could locate Kareem, but as of today they still hadn’t found Cruze. Because Cruze was the one responsible for hiding Justice’s body, Skye could only assume this was the reason why Dre wouldn’t reveal the whereabouts. Either way, Skye vowed to never give up looking for him because Cruze deserved a proper burial.

Kareem and Sandino were buried together side by side in a two person mausoleum at Visa Memorial Gardens. At first Skye went to visit every week, but as time passed she was able to let go and stopped going as often. The tears flowing down her face were not only sad tears but happy ones as well. After hearing Kareem’s last words from Felicia, she knew her son loved her and died trying to protect his family just as he always promised to do. With the help of a therapist, she was no longer taking medication and a much happier person. She’d even forgiven Sandino and Cruze in her heart and let go of all the hatred that once consumed her. She was rich, single, free and enjoying life without a man. Right now she was only interested in being the best mother she could be to her kids and looking forward to starting out fresh in a new city.

After taking another sip of her wine, she glanced over at a huge stack of mail forwarded from the old house that she’d picked up from the post office earlier that day. She flipped through the stack of mail which was mostly old bills until she came across a letter that was post marked from Jamaica. With widened eyes, Skye quickly tore open the envelope as an enormous grin formed on her face.

Hello me child. I have been trying to reach ya for somtime now. I hope you and me kids are ok and I hope de letter will reach ya in good health. When I heard about Mr. Sandino I decided to try and reach ya once again. I pray it works this time. Please call me.

Miss ya much.

Respect, Ms. Petra

Looking at Ms. Petra’s phone number over and over like it couldn’t be true, Skye grabbed her phone to call her travel agent. She and the kids were going on a much needed vacation to Jamaica. However, before she could dial, Skye listened as Jordan walked into the house along with the pitter patter of four additional little feet. After losing three people who were dear to her heart, Skye had a change of heart and went to Child Protective Services to get Sandino Jr. Since then she’d even applied for adoption so he would be raised as a Washington, the way Sandino would have wanted.

Jordan along with Payton and SJ walked into the living room a few minutes later and all snuggled beside her on the couch.

As SJ looked at her and said, “Ma Ma,” his innocent little face warmed her heart. To him Skye was the only mother he knew. She told herself that maybe when he was older she’d take him to see Asia.

“Let’s wish your brother a happy birthday,” she said to everyone while pointing at Kareem’s pictures. After counting to three, she and Jordan yelled, “Happy Birthday,” while the little ones just smiled.