The Miseducation of a Good Girl: Read Chapter One

Blood & Water

Outlaw

“Luke Murray, you’re out.”

It’s about damn time.

Standing up, I ran my hand over the front of my suit jacket to dust it off before walking to the front of the holding cell. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in there, but I knew one thing: it was too damn long.

“Mr. Murray, your car is waiting for you around back,” I heard a voice say from behind me.

Turning around, I met the eyes of an officer, a Black man, around my height.

“There are quite a few members of the press stationed outside, along with other members of the city...” He suddenly appeared uneasy. “...who have staged a few protests. That’s why it took us a while longer to get you out. We can’t guarantee your safety from the front entrance. It’s much more private around back.”

I eyed him with suspicion, not believing a single word out of his mouth. He was the police, and for someone who grew up in the streets like me, it automatically positioned him as an opp. Apparently, he knew that because the next thing he did was open his mouth and say the only word that would make me trust him.

“Omerta,” he said, barely above a whisper.

It was only then that I relaxed.

“Oh, you ‘folks’,” I replied. He nodded.

Omerta was a code of silence for the mafia, but it was also a code word we used to identify people as part of the BBM. My eyes dropped to the name on his lapel.

Lt. Dragonia.

I didn’t recognize him, but I definitely recognized the name.

“Melissa Dragonia?” I asked, staring at him under furrowed brows.

“My wife,” he replied.

I nodded my head. I knew her. She was one of the media partners of the BBM. The ones who worked with Kane to keep the press out of our shit. Based on what he’d said about the protests, they had to be busy as hell.

“Follow me,” he directed before turning around, leading me toward a hall.

I was tempted to ask him questions, but I didn’t. I couldn’t risk anyone knowing of his connection to me. But, damn, if I didn’t want to know what the hell Simpson had on me. He wouldn’t risk locking me up so publicly over some small shit. It had to be something big, and I couldn’t wait to find out what the hell it was.

In due time.

I knew that my time sitting in a call wasn’t wasted. Whatever needed to be known, I could guarantee that my brothers were already on top of it.

“Here you go,” Lt. Dragonia said as he opened the door for me to leave. I gave him a quick nod of thanks for looking out with the private exit and then stepped out into the dark, walking towards the large black SUV parked curbside.

Legend jumped out the driver’s seat and came to open my door right before I arrived.

“Good to see you, Outlaw,” he said.

I said nothing; simply lowered my head to acknowledge his words before getting in the car. The fact that Legend picked me up and not my brothers meant that he’d found out something. I was eager to know what it was.

It wasn’t until he pulled out of the jail parking lot and onto the street that we started to speak freely.

“I found out who is behind this.” Lifting his hand, he massaged his chin pensively. “Isaiah Johanes. The only son of Chloe Havarty. He’s in the city and I’m positive it ain’t by accident. He’s been here over a week.”

“How the fuck...” I started before my words failed me.

Chloe’s son?

How the hell had he found me? How did he even know anything about me? Everything that went on between me and Chloe happened when he was too young to remember it. Not only that, but I could also only remember one time he’d ever seen my face. I was the one who transported him to his grandparents, but he was blindfolded the entire time. It didn’t make any sense.

“You moved on him yet?” I asked Legend.

He shook his head. “Not yet. I figured you would want to be with me to do the honors.”

“Nah, I keep my hands clean these days,” I told him with a sigh. “I let y’all young, wild niggas handle the gunplay.”

“Indeed,” was Legend’s response.

I looked at him sideways. “See, that’s that crazy shit that makes me wonder if I should be alright with you trying to marry my daughter.”

I chuckled a little as I said it, but part of me was dead serious. Even though I knew Legend was a good kid, anyone with eyes could see there was a dangerous side to him. One that you just didn’t want to cross into. Everyone had a part of them that was like that, but most people kept it hidden from others, even themselves. Not Legend. He lived for that shit. Walking in the shadows is where he felt most comfortable.

“I only pull the trigger for a good cause so ain’t nothing to worry about,” Legend said. “Plus, we both know that your daughter wants nothing to do with me.”

Damn.

I glanced in his direction, and I saw a hint of emotion cross his face.

Regret.

It was true. January didn’t want nothing to do with him which he found out when she broke off their engagement. That was over a year ago, but he still looked fucked up about it.

Forcing my lips together, I turned to look out the window. I don’t know if he was looking for encouragement or not, but I wasn’t about to give it. January was my daughter and one thing about her, when it came to men, I was confident that she knew how to pick the best one for her.

“From what I found, he lives around here,” Legend said as he took a turn into a neighborhood in Williamsburg.

It was a trendy area, a spot known for hosting professionals in their mid-to-late twenties. Usually, ones who were fresh out of school and were lucky enough to find a job that paid them a decent amount of money. The lawns were nonexistent; a small patch of grass, just enough for someone with a small dog.

“Interesting,” I said as I looked around.

I didn’t know what type of man I was expecting Isaiah to be, but this shit wasn’t it.

I was used to battling it out with goons; niggas who were hood raised and fully prepared to go toe-to-toe with me whether we were in the suburbs or in the street. Ruthless niggas. Niggas who knew what it met to get it out the mud. Savages who didn’t give a damn; they’d beat your ass in a wife beater and sweats or a three-piece suit. The kind of man who fought to death over disrespect because, outside of his respect, he had nothing else to lose.

From the look of everything around me, Isaiah wasn’t that dude.

“That’s the one right there based on the address I found.” Legend nodded his head ahead of where we were parked. “You want me to move?”

Reaching to his side, he grabbed what I knew was a weapon and then, pulling it up on his lap, he connected it with a silencer. He was just as eager as I was to get things dealt with, but something about this didn’t feel right. I had a weird feeling that this situation was supposed to be handled soon, but maybe not tonight.

“Wait for a minute.” I stopped him, my eyes still focused on Isaiah’s front door.

“What’s up?” I could hear the subtle alarm in Legend’s tone. He could sense that I was on edge and it had him tweaking. Every street nigga wore their paranoia like a second skin. He was no different.

“Something’s not right.” I told him. “But don’t leave. Just wait here a minute.”

Legend settled back into his seat, saying nothing. He drummed the tip of his fingers against his leg. He was on edge, but I couldn’t blame him. So was I. I just didn’t know why yet.

Suddenly, there was a flicker of light from the front room and the door opened.

“Oh shit,” I heard Legend say. “Figured his type would be sleep this time of night.”

“So did I,” I replied scratching at my jaw. “But even corny ass niggas will stay up past their bedtime for a sneaky link.” I nodded my head towards the door which a female figure had just stepped out of.

Legend snickered at that. “True shit.”

And it was all fun and games... until it wasn’t.

“The fuck?” Both Legend and I said at the same damn time.

Leaning up, we squinted out the window at the figure we saw walking out the front door of Isaiah’s house.

“That can’t be who I think it is,” Legend whispered. He seemed to deflate as he sunk back into his seat as if all the air had been sucked out of his body.

I felt the exact same way as he did as I stared out the window watching my own fucking daughter standing on the front steps of Isaiah’s townhouse talking to him.

“What is she doing here?” Legend gritted next to me, his hand on the pistol in his lap. I knew he was eager to squeeze the trigger. “Is she messing around with him?”

I said nothing. Mainly because I didn’t want to make any assumptions. There weren’t many things worse than finding out your daughter was sleeping with the enemy. It wasn’t something I wanted to accept. But then, when I saw January lean over to kiss whoever was standing inside the door, my hopes were dashed to shit.

“Don’t pull out of here until she leaves,” I instructed Legend.

He didn’t respond. I wasn’t surprised; I didn’t think he would. Legend was an expert at hiding all his emotions except for one: anger. He rarely got to that point, but when he did, he was one reckless motherfucker. On normal days, he didn’t give a fuck, but he still operated with reason. When he was mad, all that reasonable shit went out the window and he became pure fire. 100% destructive. He didn’t think. And the only person able to easily get him to that point was January.

“We gotta move slower than we planned,” I told him once January had left and we were back on the road. “I need to know what’s going on and how much my daughter is involved in this shit... if she is at all,” I added.

Legend simply nodded his head. And continued to drive.

I didn’t know what was going on, but I needed to find out. My gut told me that there was no way that January knew who Isaiah was because my own blood would never work against me. But my head reminded me that you never really knew a person, because, at the end of the day, everyone is capable of anything.