lifeofcedes

[lifeofcedes]

Check-In

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones snd William Campbell LOCATION: Boston Common; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Saturday, December, 10th, 2022 NOTES: Mercedes visits a buddy of hers, obtaining important information about a deceased man and his missing family. TRIGGER WARNING: mention of death and kidnapping.

In her high heels she trekked the distance across the grass, she was in no rush at all. The person she was seeking came here three times a week with his golden retriever to get his daily dose of vitamin D and unfiltered oxygen. She watched him from behind, sitting on a park bench as his dog drank water from the bottle in his hand. He didn’t know she was coming, which she preferred. She didn’t hesitate to creep up and slowly lower herself down beside him. She sat her Chanel bag down on the seat, crossing her legs at the knee. “It’s a beautiful day” she said as she looked around at the children, adults, and birds flying about. 

Willam poured water freely from the water bottle giving his dog something to cool him down. He paid no attention to the woman approaching him from behind, not until she sat down. He looked over to see exactly who it was and he sighed to himself. He looked away from her, if he played it safe no one would notice this little meeting. He closed the bottle of water and said “yeah” to her. 

Her foot bounced a little as her eyes moved down at the well behaved dog, he reminded her of her own baby at home. “Looks like your case won’t be solved anytime soon” she said to him as she looked away from the man and his dog. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear before she looked down at her watch checking the time, she did have a meeting in an hour. 

He waited to hear what she had to say to him, hopefully it would be something swift and easy. Her words caused his face to scrunch, up until this exact moment he really hadn’t come up with any actual suspects. She could have been talking about any case, but no, he knew what case she was referring to. “She and the kids are still missing, but we are very sure they are no longer with us…” he said as he finally looked at her. She couldn’t have done this, anything she’d come to him with before had been small in comparison. “We don’t have a suspect but obviously the same person who killed Mark did something to his wife and children…” 

“No suspects no case” Mercedes said as she finally looked over at him, her eyes staring into his. It was simple; in order to play the game you had to be good at it. And one thing she’d learned very early on in the game was to trust no one. If she told Tank and Darius everything she was actually doing and capable of she would have been locked up a long time ago. She had a list of people on payroll that did a number of things for her, but that was for her to know. 

William looked away from her and allowed the silence to fall between them. There were children involved, kids that were around the same age of his own. She wouldn’t understand the way this affected him or anyone, not unless she had some herself. But if she did, how could she do anything to some? 

“I hear Daniel is doing amazing at Pratt, that is good” Mercedes complimented. “I’d hate it if all that scholarship money just disappeared,” she told him, her foot still bouncing nonchalantly. “Nothing is worse than disappointment in this world. Your children looking at you as if you are a failure because you can’t provide the things they need, let alone want” she said looking back over at him slowly. “How much is it again?” 

“Fifty-grand a semester” William said regrettably, he didn’t have that kind of money, it was six of them. Everyday he got up it was dedicated to his family, he made them proud and he’d die if they felt less of him. Everyday putting his life on the line for the Boston PD just to be able to say he tried to provide them the desires of their heart, corrupt or not. “You keeping up with my kid now?” 

She stopped bouncing her foot and said “no, just you” casually. “People post so much information onto facebook, it’s amazing” she said with a light chuckle, it was true. She didn’t have to look into people like William much, most people gave up all kinds of information freely. 

“She changed her statement, said her description could’ve been fuzzy” William sighed as she leaned up, elbows resting on his legs now. He leaned, hunched over “been looking for this guy based on the new description. But there are no suspects. No theories of motive. It's a random act of cruel murder, possible kidnapping, from a possible serial killer…” he ran his hand through his hair. “This Mark guy was a rat on the street…. dealt with some illegal shit. Maybe it was a hit or something…. I don’t know. BPD ain’t got nothing. Not without bodies of course, for all we know the wife and kids fled from this guy.. that killed Mark” 

Nodding her head slowly as he spoke she stored everything he was telling her in her head. “Hm” she said as she grabbed her Chanel bag and moved to stand up. “I like that” she told him “unsolved mystery” she let leave her lips. She left his side strutting down the sidewalk as she headed in the opposite direction of where the man stayed seated. She whistled to herself thinking about how it would be impossible for them to discover the woman and her kids, they were somewhere in the middle of a body of water. It wasn't what she planned but she could appreciate Tank doing what she asked him to, he’d taken care of it and no one’s hands would be dirty because of it.

[lifeofcedes]

the closet of Mercedes Jones

thread: Check-In

[lifeofcedes]

Loose Ends

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones, Tank Wilson, Darius Clark, and Katherine Ellis LOCATION: n/a; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Wednesday, November, 9th, 2022 NOTES: After taking care of Mark, Mercedes decides to take care of his wife and kids too. TRIGGER WARNING: mention of guns and death.

“I did what you asked me to do. I went to the police and I told them I think the description I gave of the guy was wrong” Katherine told her. “I told them that I couldn’t really remember and that maybe that wasn’t how he really looked” she said pleadingly. 

Mercedes sat on the coffee table in front of the woman, she crossed her legs at the knee and swung her foot nonchalantly back and forth. “I asked you not to do anything until I told you to and yet you have run to the police again, without my guidance Katherine” she spoke calmly. 

“I know” Katherine told her, her eyes watering, “what do you want from me right now, you barged in with loaded guns threatening my life” she told her “bragging about doing to me what you did to my husband” she cried. “They have guns to my children's head and I am trying to do whatever you ask. I don’t want to die” she screamed. 

Mercedes blinked at the woman, looking over at the three kids tied up and laid out on the ground. She silenced their cries long ago with gags, she couldn’t stand the unnecessary noise in her ears. Her eyes moved up to Tanks for a moment, pondering her next move. She could just scare the family to the point where they were no longer a problem for her but she didn’t trust people. So for her, getting rid of them would be the only option in any scenario. “Much like your late husband, you just don’t listen,” she countered, “things are so simple, but you’ve made them hard” she told her. 

“You shouldn’t have ran your big fucking mouth to the cops to begin with” Tank said looking down at the woman, his gun drawn and resting against her temple. “You knew exactly who and what your husband was; a piece of shit…” 

Mercedes looked up at Tank from her seated position, “did I ask you to speak?” she asked him. It seemed like everytime she turned around he had something to say. She didn’t need a hype man; she was man enough on her own. “Mark wasn’t a piece of shit” she corrected looking back at the woman “he was stupid” she told his wife. “He was a man who wanted to feed his family and would do anything to do just that but he shouldn’t have interfered with me doing the same thing” she sighed. “I am not a heartless woman Mrs. Ellis, I’ve loved too much in the past if you asked me. But I am a business woman at the end of the day, my money is what is most important to me. So you have to go” she told her. “Tank makes me to much of it for you to send him to prison right now” she concluded as she picked up the glass filled with water and calmly took a sip. 

Tank’s back slumped a bit at Mercedes words, she was so cold lately. He wondered if it was all stemming from business or something else. Despite this, he looked back down at Katherine ready to shoot when asked. 

Katherine looked up at the man beside her, mascara smudging from the constant tears she was shedding. She wished she could lay eyes on her babies, all she could really hear from them was muffled cries. “I will do anything, anything you want me to” she told her “please don’t kill them, don’t kill me. I will tell the police whatever you want me to tell them I promise” she told her. “Don’t hurt them, they are just kids. Don’t you have kids? How could you ever do this and sleep at night?” 

“I do, his name is Bruno, a rottweiler” Mercedes replied with flat sarcasm as she took another sip from the glass of water, when she was done she sat the glass back down beside her on the table. “What exactly did you tell the police again? And don’t lie, because I will kill a child with each one you offer me” she told her. 

Katherine figured this must have been what Mark felt before the woman put three bullets into his head. Endless fear and dread, on one hand you wanted so desperately to live and on the other you just wanted the deed to be done so that the games stopped. “I told them that I had gotten the description wrong. That maybe I was just too emotional to remember every detail. I gave them a new description of a black guy I saw at a local market” she told her. 

Raising a brow at the woman Mercedes uncrossed her legs and stood up in her heels. There was so much she wanted to unpack in the moment but she chose not to. She sighed to herself shaking her head, “call me when it’s done” she told Tank. “Thanks for the water Katherine, that was a thoughtful gesture” she admitted. She turned to leave the woman’s home, closing the door behind herself.

[lifeofcedes]

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[lifeofcedes]

Too Late

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones, Tank Wilson, Darius Clark, and Mark Ellis LOCATION: Western Avenue Bridge; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Monday, October, 24th, 2022 NOTES: After holding Mark captive for three days Mercedes upped the ante. TRIGGER WARNING: mention of guns and death.

Mercedes hadn’t intended on keeping Mark with her for this long, however she’d been waiting for this mystery man to make a move and he hadn’t. For the last three days Mark had been held against his will and now she was ready to make her next move. Mercedes couldn’t afford to have the police sniffing her out considering the man’s wife had gone to the police about him. Tank was dumb enough to make himself known to the woman and she’d been able to offer the police a description of the last person to ever see Mark, which was Tank. Looking out of the window she sighed to herself, she didn’t like getting her hands dirty. She left that stuff to Scooter in the past, but now she assumed she was in too deep. She was the new Scooter, “You have to get rid of him…” she said simply as she looked over at Tank. 

Tank bit his bottom lip, his left hand on his knee and his right tightening his grip on the loaded gun beneath it. Nothing came out of them kidnapping Mark but a missing person alert circulating around town and a sketch of him on the news. He’d been in hiding with Mark for the past three days leaving all of the daily work he covered in Darius' hands. Hopefully Darius hadn’t made a mess of things and every cent of Mercedes money would be accounted for once everything returned back to its norm. He’d watched his boss come and go over the past few days, he knew the wheels had been turning in her head, he just didn’t know what she had planned yet. At her words he looked over at her before he looked straight ahead. Nodding his head he moved to climb out of the back of the car, “come on Darius” he commanded the boy who had been driving the four of them around all day. 

Darius sat there drumming his hands against the steering wheel of the unmarked car silently. For a while the two head honchos had been sitting in the back of the car under a bridge saying absolutely nothing at all. It was boring if you asked him but he was sure they were there for a reason considering the fourth person in the trunk. Looking up at the both of them in the rearview mirror he did as he was told and got out the car, shutting the door. 

Mercedes climbed out of the vehicle herself, closing the door and sticking her hands into her coat pockets. Looking around she took in the area around then as she rounded the car headed for the trunk. She stood there waiting for Tank to open it and handle their problem like she asked him to. 

Mark was a dead man and he knew that, however, what he didn’t know was how to fix the situation. All the possible outcomes he had come up with in his head were negative. He had hoped that the police would track him down and rescue him but they never came. So his death had been something he had accepted way before this very moment. As the trunk flung open he looked up trying to take in the scenery around them. He tried to scream for help hoping someone overheard him in the distance and it would be enough to end this nightmare. 

Tank moved for the trunk and he opened it exposing a tied up Mark to the three of them. The man was bound, gagged, and had a look of distress on his face to say the least. He screamed behind the gag in his mouth and Tank said “shut the fuck up” to the man. “Come on Darius” he barked at the boy again as he tucked his gun back into his pants grabbing Mark’s body to pull out of the trunk. He didn’t have time for Darius to flake right now; he needed him to have a leveled head. 

“Okay” Darius said defensively as he moved towards Tank’s side helping the man to grab the Mark guy from out of the trunk. They hoisted him up together forcefully keeping him calm as he fought against them. “What to do with him?” Darius asked his cousin, unknowing what was actually happening right now. 

Tank pulled on Mark and he growled to himself as the man squirmed and screamed though it was all muffled behind the cloth in his mouth. “Drop his ass” he said as they carried him a short distance before dropping him by a nearby water edge. Tank pulled his gun back out and he aimed it at Mark, snapping the safety off his finger on the trigger. 

Mercedes stood there in her fur, the breeze whipping past her as she did. She watched the two men pick up Mark and carry him a short distance before dropping him to the ground like a piece of trash. She looked at Tank as he pulled his gun back out and aimed it at the man. “Darius take his gag out” she said simply as she rounded the man on the ground. “Mark, I really tried to work with you, I really did” she breathed heavily. “But you didn’t give me what I wanted and your little friend clearly isn’t much of one considering he never showed” she said. Pausing, she stood with her feet at his head, looking down at him. “Now you have to pay for that, and so will your wife and your unfortunate kids,”. 

Darius stood there with his hands at his sides as he watched Tank, he didn’t know they were really going to kill him but he guessed they were. At Mercedes' command he walked closer to Mark and bent down, pulling the cloth from his mouth and tucking it into his pocket. The man was scared to death but who wouldn’t be in this situation. 

Mark’s attempt to fight back was futile not only had his hands been bound behind his back but so were his feet at his ankles. He wouldn’t be able to fight them back so he didn’t know why he’d even tried. He guessed almost no one went down without a little fight back though. They dropped him down on the ground and he closed his eyes, wincing at the feel of hitting the ground. His eyes looked towards the water's edge and onward. There was no one insight under this bridge, he was screwed. No plans formulated in his head and he figured he shouldn’t make any more effort. When the gag was removed from his mouth he exhaled loudly. “Please, please” he begged watching the woman walk around him. He rested his head down on the ground, eyes closing. When he opened them again she stood over his head “please” he begged again. “Do whatever you want, just don’t, please, don’t harm my family. They have nothing to do with this” he said. “I’ll tell you, please, I will tell you” he finally told her, agreeing with what he’s been fighting against for the last three days. Tears rolled down to his ears and he said “Al” swallowing hard. “His name is Al and he operates out of Mission Hill” Mark lied a little. 

“He’s fucking lying” Tank sad coldly as he aimed for Mark’s head angrily. There was no way someone would operate out of such a conservative and popular neighborhood like Mission Hill. 

“Calm the fuck down” Mercedes said holding her hand out to Tank he was really starting to get on her damn nerves. She looked down at Mark, looking into his eyes “Al, huh” she repeated to him without much thought. She couldn’t tell if he was lying or telling the truth, or if he were lying to her which part he was lying about. 

“Al” Mark repeated looking up at Mercedes; he was purposefully ignoring the other two men around them. A tact he thought would help to gain her trust. She was gazing into his soul and it made him shiver in fear of what she would do next. “He operates out of Mission Hill” he said again, trying to convince her of the lie. The reassurance would sway her, or so he hoped. 

Tank looked over at Mercedes, lowering his gun at her instruction. He couldn’t believe this shit, the smartest person he knew was about to fall for the biggest rat he’d ever seen. Mark was scum, he’d learned all about him in the streets. “You can’t trust no fucking man that has ran his mouth to the fucking feds..” 

Mercedes offered him a somewhat pleased look before she said “it’s too late” to him. He should have given her what she wanted days ago and perhaps she would have considered his life. Despite that, he was lying through his teeth. At Tank’s words she looked over at him with a raised brow, sometimes she swore he overstepped because he thought he could. Because he thought they were equals due to the fact that she used to fuck his brother but he was wrong. She didn’t know what gave him that crazy idea. She pulled a note with the letter M on it and handed it to Tank “I don’t plan on it” she said back to him as she moved to walk away, “I am getting in the car, I don’t want his blood on my new fur coat” she breathed. 

“Wait, wait, no no no no” Mark pleaded with the back of the woman’s head as she walked away. His gaze moved to Tank and Darius, “please!”

Tank swapped glances with Mercedes grabbing the piece of paper from her, at her command he lifted his gun back up and aimed it at the man on the ground again. As she walked away he looked down at Mark ignoring his pleas as he fired three shots into the man’s head, watching him take his last breath. “Let’s go” he told Darius as he bent down resting the note on his chest he picked up the shells sticking them into his pockets. Tank jogged towards the car “you are driving Darius, keep your shit together you hear me!”

Walking away from the three she moved towards the car and she climbed back into the backseat. She ignored the three pops as she called up a few people that owed her favors, she needed to get her hands on the dead man’s family so they could go be with him. Not before she convinced the woman to go to the police with an entirely new description of the perpetrator. If she didn’t she’d have to send Tank away and she couldn’t afford to do that, she didn’t trust anyone else like she trusted him. She needed him off the police's radar. 

Darius watched the banter between Mark, Tank, and Mercedes with slightly frightened eyes. He didn’t really sign up to be a murderer. As the three argued back and forth between them he looked around, making sure no one was watching them. It was in an instance that Mark pleas turned to silence as he watched his older cousin shoot the man three times in his head. He couldn’t stand the sight and he turned away. His world was spinning and somewhere in the midst of this was a careless Mercedes sitting in a car. He swallowed hard, refusing to puke at that moment. Instead he ran for the car ahead of Tank, climbing into the front seat he quickly started the car up “where to?” he asked them a little panicked. 

Climbing in the car, Tank shut the door behind him and said “out East” simply. “Now drive this motherefucker….”

[lifeofcedes]

Wild West

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones, Tank Wilson, Darius Clark, and Mark Ellis LOCATION: Eastside; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Friday, October, 21st, 2022 NOTES: Passing by the very man she is looking for, Mercedes meets up with Tank who's kidnapped Mark. Mercedes, Tank, and Darius con Mark into their game.

Walking out of the building, Mercedes slid her shades onto her face, she unlocked the G-Wagon and climbed in. Sitting her bag in the passenger seat, she turned the car on and she fastened her seatbelt. Pulling off she watched as a vehicle drove down the road slowly, looking over at it as she passed by she looked in her rearview mirror with a raised brow. She didn’t have time to investigate that she was in too much of a rush. Calling up Tank, she waited for him to answer. 

Tank rounded the corner, putting the car in park he pulled a cigarette out and he lit it. Seeing his burner phone ring he picked it up “T” he said coolly. 

“Tank, where the fuck are you?” Mercedes asked him after he answered the phone. She stopped at a red light and looked down at her phone, reading a text message in the meantime. 

Tank turned the car off and climbed out of it, standing right outside of the mystery guy's home. He leaned up against his car and waited for the show to begin. “I found our guy's house, sitting outside of it now. I may be here for a while, but, when I get my hands on him I’ll be bringing him to you” he told her. “I am taking him out east” he told her thereafter, turning his back to the house he looked down both ends of the road. 

“Good” Mercedes said simply as she hung the phone up on him abruptly and pulled off after the light finally turned green. 

“Hello?” Tank said after the woman hung up, he pulled the phone from his ear and stuck it into his pocket sighing heavily. Tapping off the ash from his Newport he put it back between his lips, turning to face the house again. 

____________________

“So how do you know my husband again?” Katherine said to Tank. The woman walked back into the living room from the kitchen, sitting a glass of water down before him before she sat back down herself. 

“We are business partners,” Tank said with a smile on his face. “Thank you,” he said, taking a sip of water from the glass. “He told me to meet him here, I suppose he has forgotten about me” he chuckled lightly. “Mark has been so busy lately, it probably slipped his mind” he told her. 

“Oh yes, that’s my Mark,” Katherine said with a smile. “He is so focused on getting our boy into the fancy art school that he’s been working himself mad” she said with a headshake. She lifted her tea cup up to her mouth and blew for a moment before she took a sip. “So you are in stocks too?” she asked curiously. 

Tank nodded his head at her, this happened to be too easy he almost felt bad, almost. “Yes, I am a broker,” Tank told her. “Mark and I like to bounce investment ideas off of each other. He is a great mentor” the man told her smoothly. “I am hoping to help him with getting your son into that school.” 

Mark moved through the moderately sized house, he noticed a car parked outside and it made him a bit nervous. It was familiar to him, but he didn't remember why. That was until he called out for his wife and walked into the living room to see the guy from a few days ago sitting before his wife. “Katherine” he said simply as he gazed at Tank. “Uh..” 

“Mark, my man” Tank intervened, he stood up and extended his hand for him to shake. “I thought you forgot about me, remember we had a meeting today?” he asked standing head to head with the man, he gazed into his eye intimidatingly. 

“Honey, you are home” Katherine said as she sat her cup down on the coffee table. She stood up as well, taking note of Mark’s less than enthusiastic face. 

Mark eyed the man “hey” he said unable to say more, he took the man’s hand gripping it as they shook. “Yeah” he nodded his head “you are right I did forget” he chuckled lightly, playing things cool. “Excuse us honey, we are going to uh, go talk over drinks?” he asked the man looking at him again. 

Tank held his grip on Mark’s hand for a while longer before he dropped it. “Drinks, sounds amazing man” he told him. “Let’s go” he said as he stood there, patting him on his shoulder lightly. 

Mark looked towards his wife again, unable to pass along any actual message. He instead pecked her forehead and moved towards their front door again. Unlocking it, he let Tank out and then he himself walked out, closing and locking the door behind him. He knew there was no point in trying anything funny with the man, his wife and kids were in the home. It was not worth the risk. “What the hell is this about?” he did ask as he finally turned to him. 

Tank watched Mark as he kissed his wife and then moved to leave. “Good evening” he offered the woman as he followed the man out of the home. “Our business ain’t settled” he told Mark “let’s go” he commanded “in the car, you don’t fight it I won’t be forced to hurt you” he breathed. Licking his lips he walked down the walk way towards his car whistling. 

Mark looked at the man before he looked around the neighborhood where he resided. He stood there for a moment before he walked behind the man. He knew this was a bad idea going along with the man but he didn’t have any other choice. Obviously he underestimated whoever this M guy was capable of. They’d tracked him down and found his family home. Found their way into it and sat among his wife and kids. Mark looked at the back of the man as he whistled, he could see the print of the gun behind his back. He went into his home armed.  

“Backseat” Tank said as he opened the car door and climbed into it. When he sat down in the car he started it up and looked in the rearview mirror. 

Mark furrowed his brows, why would he allow him to climb in the backseat of the car. Didn't he know that he had some weapon on him and that that would be a major risk on his part. However Mark would take the mistake as an open window to plot his escape. When he opened the car door he saw the second guy from the other day. He guessed that they were smarter than he thought. He sat down seeing the man’s gun aimed at him. He closed the car door and looked straight ahead. 

____________________

“Who are you really Mark?” Tank asked, sitting on a kitchen table propped up before him. He lit another cigarette in the traphouse they were now in, Darius standing behind the bound man. 

“A family man, a husband and father” Mark said, his hands tied behind his back. Feet bound against the chair he was sitting in. He’d been hit in the head by the butt on the young guy's gun. At some point of time they blindfolded him during the ride. He didn’t know where they were and how long it took them to get there when he blacked out. All he knew was that he was now in some run-down house, filled with drugs, naked women, and armed men. 

“Outside of that” Tank said, staring at him expectantly. He wasn’t leaving this location no matter if he spoke or didn’t speak. But he planned to get all the answers he wanted from him, even if he did so involuntarily. 

“What do you want?” Mark said to the man, ignoring the trickling of blood sliding down his temple. 

“Who do you work for?” Tank said, cutting to the chase. 

Mark looked away from the man for a moment before he looked back at him. “I can’t tell you that,” he said. 

Tank nodded his head slowly, he stuck the cigarette between his lips and inhaled slowly. He shifted on the table he was sitting on, exhaling slowly before he looked back down at Mark. “I guess you’ll just have to deal with M” he told him threateningly. 

Mark watched the man as he smoked before him, his words were haunting. His heartbeat quickened a bit at the thought. He’d come face to face with M himself. And by the looks of things he was far more intimidating in comparison to Al. “Look” he said “I can not tell you that, don’t you get that, you are putting my family in danger” he stressed. 

“They are already in danger” Mercedes said as she walked into the home slowly, she cut through the living room in her heels before she entered Mark's line of view. “Mark, your family is counting on your honesty,”. 

Mark’s head whipped in the direction of a feminine voice, he eyed her crazily. There was no way M, was a woman? This is who was running Boston streets? He took her in, eyes roaming her brown skin. She couldn’t be the leader of this pack, her nails were manicured and her skin glowed from the sweet smell of cocoa butter? She was standing in six inch heels carrying a Birkin bag in her hand with a skin tight dress that showed you everything God had blessed her with. He was too stunned to speak. She was perfect. Perfection in his mind had never been linked back to cocaine, guns, and gangbangers. She was a gangster Barbie? 

Mercedes looked at Mark as he looked her up and down, his mouth opening as he did. He was undressing her with his eyes and she sat her purse aside as he did. Folding her arms under her ample bosom she tapped her nails lightly against her arm as she waited. “Mark, I am M” she told him, helping him to connect the dots. “And I would like to know who the fuck you work for… seeing as whoever that is is fucking with my business.” 

Mark looked, eyes traveled back up her thighs to her eyes, and he gazed into them. “I-” he said, still trying to wrap his brain around how wrong he’d been. “I can’t tell you that, but if you let me go and you don’t harm my family I promise I can fix this” he promised her. 

Tank looked at Mark with a headshake, he climbed down off the table and walked away as Mercedes surfaced. He continued to smoke his cigarette off to the side standing in a corner now. 

Mercedes chuckled lightly, “you aren’t going anywhere” she said to him. “You can remain silent” she added “but it won’t get you what you want” she told him. 

“This person is powerful-” Mark began.

Mercedes cut the man off “you assume I am not?” she asked him. “You don’t have to warn me about the streets I’ve been working them my whole life,” she told him. “I don’t need you to watch my back, you need to focus on your own” she said.

Darius pressed the AK he had against Mark’s back as Mercedes spoke. 

“I-” Mark said, unaware of what to say to diffuse the situation now, he obviously was digging a deeper grave. He felt the gun pressed against his back and he froze up “whatever you want me to do I will do, please” he begged. “Don’t kill me,” he told her. All he had to do was come up with a better plan than the first, that was it. He’d save his own ass on both ends and everything would be fine. 

Tilting her head she smirked, “that’s what I like to hear Mark. Now Tank is going to untie your hands and allow you to use your phone to send whoever you work for a message. And you are going to tell them they are on my turf. That M has you and M is looking for them, okay” she said. 

Mark looked up at her again and he nodded his head “okay, whatever you want…”

[lifeofcedes]

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[lifeofcedes]

Ivy Ford

face-claimed as Jurnee Smollett

Twenty-Nine

Mercedes' MCD Realty Group Employee

[lifeofcedes]

Alaia Lennon

face-claimed as Brely Evans

Twenty-Eight

Mercedes' MCD Realty Group Employee

[lifeofcedes]

A Little Problem

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones, Tank Wilson, Darius Clark LOCATION: n/a; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Thursday, October, 20th, 2022 NOTES: Tank runs into Mark and they swap words. Tank informs Mercedes of who's been watching her block and why. After, Mercedes confronts Tank about Darius being apart of the business.

“You on the wrong block brother” Tank said, he pulled his lighter out of his pocket and lit the cigarette that rested between his lips. He placed the lighter back into his pocket and puffed out a cloud of smoke. 

“Excuse me?” Mark said as he paused in the middle of the street. He looked back at his black car and down the road, he felt uneasy about this guy. However, something within him egged him on so that he could get down to the bottom of what he’d just said. 

“Oh” Tank said a chuckle leaving him, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and said “you are hard of hearing huh?” sarcastically. “I said, you on the wrong block, bruh” he repeated as he leaned back against his little Honda. He pulled from the cigarette slowly looking over at the man’s black Acura, the same one Mercedes had been nervously observing for sometime. It was parked down the street occasionally and sat for hours on end. It was Tank's job to get to the bottom of the man's motive for doing so. 

“No one runs this block, bro” Mark challenged as he turned towards the man now. “Nothing is on this strip” he said, hands raised as he turned in mini circles, encouraging the man to just take a look around them both. “Nothing but this empty laundromat my boss just bought and that little office down there” he said pointing to the real estate office Mercedes and her staff inhabited. 

Tank looked at the once vacant laundromat, fuck, he’d told her to buy the strip. They could’ve done so much with the plaza and yet she denied everyone’s request. The skinner 's eyes moved down to where Mercedes building sat and he nodded his head. “M, ain’t gone like that” he breathed, sighing deeply. He’d have to make an example out of this man and he really didn’t want to have to do that. 

“M?” Mark asked confused “who’s M?” he said truly wanting to know for himself no less. There was no one else he knew that could operate in this area. And the person that he did know, wouldn’t waste their time. Right? Even if they did, the guy he knew was named Vic. 

“The one who runs this block” Tank told him with a smirk, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth and dropped it on the ground. He stepped on it with his black loafer and put the fire out. “M, don’t play,” he said to Mark. Tank had heard of people calling Mercedes all sorts of names; Vic, Ghost, phantom and more. It didn’t matter she liked being mystery, but the people who knew her knew her as M. 

“M runs this block” Mark repeated as he rested his hands on his hips. “He’s pushing out here?” he asked for clarification. This happened to be a major fuck up on his part. If he had to go back and tell Al that this happened to be turf that was already taken he knew what that meant for him. But it didn’t make sense, he’d never seen another man hanging out around here until today. He’d watched this place for weeks, nothing and noone was recognizable but the chicks he saw come in and out of the real estate office. “You are pulling my fuckin’ chain aren’t you, are you M motherfucker!” he barked angrily. He didn’t have time for games; his life could be on the line right now, not to mention his family. He needed something good to be going for him right now. 

Tank pushed off his car, placing his hands into the pockets of his slacks he chuckled again and shook his head at the man. “No” he said easily, this guy was an idiot. “You’ll find out who M is soon enough, trust” he said as he opened his car door. He slid into the car and shut the door , turning the car on and rolling the window down. 

Mark watched the man and looked away bitterly, great, he’d fucked up. Not only was Al going to kill him but somebody named M would be too. Shit was just piling up on his plate day by day. He watched the window roll down and his hand slid to his back expectantly but all he saw was another guy in the passenger seat as the man pulled off slowly. “Fuck!” he barked angrily, he heard a car coming behind him and he got out of the road instinctively. Pissed off he moved back towards his car, fuming he kicked the car door once before he yanked the door open and climbed in. 

____________________

Mercedes continued to type out a massive text to send to the ladies collectively. They had closed on a lot of homes lately and she was grateful for it. Their hard work and dedication made her second job seem like a breeze. Licking her lips, she sent the message and switched over to a more important topic in her phone. Her new purchase, a jet. She never pictured making a purchase like this but in the long run she felt it would make flying in and out of the country a lot less obvious. Even if she herself didn’t go to the Colombia she could still send Tank or Darius in her place on the jet. It was a win-win for her. “So, update?” she finally spoke sitting in the back of the car with Tank and Darius. She looked across the car, the both of them facing her. 

Tank looked out the window during the drive until Mercedes spoke. “He ain’t feds,” he said simply to her. That was what she was worried about after all and he knew that. 

“How do you know?” Mercedes quizzed. 

“I just do, trust me” Tank replied. “He’s some, I don’t know, minion” he shrugged at her. “He’s scouting out that laundromat. Someone is trying to snatch your turf from up under us. Smart motherfuckers, I told you to buy that shit…”

“I look like I wash dirty drawls?” Mercedes asked him. 

Darius snorted at her comment, laughing as he looked over at Tank. 

Mercedes looked over at Darius and said “shut the fuck up” coldly. This wasn’t a laughing matter and he knew she was a serious individual all of the time. 

Darius' smile and laugh stopped abruptly, he cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. He knew that tone, it meant nothing but business. Mercedes wasn’t heartless; they both knew she cared for them, but she wasn’t their family and she didn’t have to bring them along for this ride if she didn’t want to. Tank’s brother died many moons ago and she didn’t owe them the continuation of the business but she brought them in and took care of them. They respected her, they had to. She held their cousin and brother down and executed a burial fit for a King when he was shot down in the streets. 

“No, but that was good money that just went down the drain, and like I said that motherfucker finna start pushing up on our shit” Tank told her. “We can’t let that shit happen Mercedes, it’ll fuck all our shit up, all our plans!” he said passionately. 

“You don’t have no shit” Mercedes corrected “it’s my shit, and you two motherfuckers just scoop it”. She only clarified because she had to constantly remind Tank of the role he really played. “Now this shit, is a problem for me. I work to fucking hard for someone to try to come in and take what’s mine. So I am going to assume the two of you know exactly what the fuck you have to do right?” she asked them. Mercedes wouldn’t consider herself a violent person, but she ran the streets and with that you had to stay ready. 

Tank raised his hands up defensively, he got it. Mercedes ran shit and she didn’t need any help doing it either. She didn’t mind reminding them of that too. It was her business, he was more of a business partner with Scooter with her all he was, was an employee and he knew that. His brother's death had hardened her heart, she didn’t allow herself to get close because she didn’t want to be hurt again. He couldn’t blame her for that at all. “I don’t have a name, I don’t know nothing. But what the guy told me. But I got you, I’ma pay him another visit and get you everything you need to know. We gone handle it”. 

Darius nodded his head at Tank’s statement, once they had the things they needed the job was as good as done already. This guy didn’t look like he had much of a fight to put up, and his boss would just have to take the loss if he came down to it. 

“Good, that’s what I like to hear” Mercedes said to them both. “Hop on that” she said as she looked out the window. “As soon as I figure out who this guy is, we are going to have to handle him too,” she added bitterly. 

“Wait” Darius said “you want us to handle another peddler?” he asked her confused. Was she crazy? They knew first hand what it was like to see someone be taken care of. He didn’t know if he had that in him. People thought they were like that, he’d heard so many rumors but they weren’t. They weren’t killers. 

“Another what?” Mercedes asked him crazily. She licked her lips, her eyes moving to Tank before they moved back to Darius. “I am a business woman, Darius,” she said plainly. “I just supply goods to the community, I’m a black female Sam Walton at best” she told him. “M-Mart” she smirked before her eyes moved back to Tank. “Tank, I know you’ll handle it right?” she asked him. 

Tank eyes moved to look over at Darius, and then he looked at Mercedes. She wasn’t actually asking him a question, he knew that. She was making a statement, he had to get it handled or she’d handle him. And she was more than capable of doing that, he knew that first hand. The Police still haven't found who killed Scooter’s murderer, or his body. He had heard rumors and at first he didn’t believe them but since then he’d decided that there was a whole lot of truth to the hearsay. “I got you” he replied back to her. 

Mercedes offered him another knowing look before she looked back out the window. Deep in thought she decided that unlike times in the past she fully intended on letting whoever this man was feel her wrath. She had grown tired of being kind to people who were stepping on her toes, she guessed she had to step back. 

____________________

It was hours later and late in night but there was still something that bothered her. Handing the keys over to Tank, Mercedes rounded the car moving towards the driver seat. She allowed Tank to climb in before she pushed the door closed with her leg. Leaning in close, she stuck her head through the window and asked “Darius isn’t going to be a problem is he?” squinting slightly. 

His head shot up as Mercedes shut the door closed forcefully behind him. At her words he furrowed his brows, he didn’t know how to answer her at first so he told her what he knew she wanted to hear. “Nah,” Tank said brushing her question off lightly “he’s good, we good” he told her seriously. “You know Darius, man, that’s family M…”

“Okay” Mercedes said “I need us to be good, all of us” she told him. “I can’t have any problems around me, you know how I feel about that. Family or not Tank.”  

 “I promise, ain’t gone be no problems, you got my word” Tank reassured her. “You got my word.” Darius was a lot of things, most times a damn fool but he was a great help and he was family. He couldn’t have issues forming between the two of them. And they didn’t have time for them anyway, there was money to be made and that was all they needed to be thinking about. 

Mercedes leaned upright, she knocked on the hood of the car before she walked off. She would have appreciated that answer if the answer were true. But Tank knew much like she did that every now-and-again Darius was a little problem, a thorn in her side. In her heels she moved down the street towards her personal vehicle that was parked. She looked back at the car Tank was in unmoving, before she turned back around strutting away. She would think of what she would do about him later, but right now she needed to figure out who was impeding on her shit.

[lifeofcedes]

Darius Clark

face-claimed as Donald Glover

Thirty

Mercedes' Right-Hand

[lifeofcedes]

Terrance 'Tank' Wilson

face-claimed as Lakeith Stanfield

Thirty-Three

Mercedes' Right-Hand

[lifeofcedes]

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[lifeofcedes]

Hold Up Down (2005)

Director: Hiroyuki Tanaka

Writer: Hiroyuki Tanaka

Producer: Julie K. Fujishima

Cinematographer

Release Date: October 28, 2005

Runtime: 96 min

[lifeofcedes]

Mother's Daughter

INVOLVED: Mercedes Jones and Michelle Lewis LOCATION: Mercedes' Condo; Boston, Massachusetts TIME FRAME: Friday, September, 30th, 2022 NOTES: Mercedes' mother Michelle visits for a while.

Stood leaning up against her car with her arms holded. She looked around the airport watching as individuals exited the large structure seeking the rides, family members, and taxis. She looked at her watch checking the time before she looked back up, her mother’s flight had landed almost ten minutes ago. She wondered what was taking her so long. Pulling her phone out of her back pocket she looked through her notifications before she unlocked the iphone and navigated her way to her contacts. She’d call the older woman to see if everything was okay. 

“Whew girl” Michelle exclaimed exhaustedly as she walked out of the airport, her bags in toe. “I am ti-red” she said with a head shake. 

Mercedes looked up and chuckled, “what took you so long?” she asked her mother, grabbing her LV duffle bag from her hand and her other carry on. She wheeled the bag towards her trunk and opened it with the handle stacking the bags in the back of the Mercedes G-wagon before she closed its door. 

Michelle tossed her iphone into her Birkin bag and said “girl, I am old” without much thought. “And this damn airport gives me a headache, it’s too big,” she exaggerated. Grabbing the handle of the car door she climbed into the large truck and shut the door behind herself. Releasing a loud huff she grabbed the seatbelt and fastened herself in safely as she waited for Mercedes to join her. 

Mercedes snorted lightly at her mother, she swore she was old but didn’t act much like her age at all. Moving around to the driver’s side of the vehicle she climbed up, sitting her phone in her cup folder before she grabbed for her seatbelt. 

“And why in the hell did you book such an early flight?” Michelle argued “don’t nobody want to get up before 6 am Mercedes” she rolled her eyes at the thought. 

“I don’t know” Mercedes said “you called me at the last minute and said you wanted to visit mama, I booked what I could” she said as she started the car up and looked for a chance to pull off before she did. “Next time, I know to book you something a little later in the day” she said simply. 

Michelle smirked at that, she pulled the visor down and slid the mirror cover aside pulling her sunglasses down. “I look like shit” she exclaimed “I could’ve met your new daddy in there, but honey” she said shaking her head as she combed her nails through her lash extensions. “Not like this baby.” 

Rolling her eyes Mercedes shook her head “you look fine” she said looking over at her briefly. “And I don’t need a new daddy, the one I got is enough for me to handle” she admitted. Her and the man didn’t have the closest relationship but it wasn’t Mercedes doing. Unresolved issues between he and her mother resulted in a typically black girl’s story. Her mother raised her and her father dipped in and out of her life when he wanted.

“Okay well not you new daddy, but my possible future rich husband then” Michelle reasoned. “Speaking of your daddy, have you talked to him lately?” she asked as she tossed her sunglasses into her purse. 

“Nope I have not, I called him on father’s day…. And his birthday” Mercedes told the woman. She shrugged without much more to say after that. 

Michelle looked at the girl and then she looked out the window “your brother?” she asked next curiously. 

“Nope” Mercedes repeated “I called him on father’s day…. And his birthday” she said, sounding like a broken record. It was true however, she and her older brother weren’t close either. When he called her with needs, she met them without the expectation or ever getting it back. And considering he couldn’t give her anything if she needed it, there wasn’t much conversation in between. “He had another baby though… that’ll make like-” she shrugged thinking “five I think” she told her mother. 

Michelle looked at the girl again “all he know to do is get bitches pregnant” she said shaking her head again. “Well…” she said, letting the silence fill the car after. She didn’t have any other questions for her, they talked everyday and she knew what was happening in her life. 

Mercedes nodded her head at her mother’s words, she was telling the truth after all. She continued to drive down the road for a moment before she said “you want to go get some brunch or something?” 

“Yeah, I could eat” she told her, “but I don’t want to go out, we can grab something and go back to your place” Michelle told her. She really was tired, that wasn’t a lie, she could use a nap. 

“Okay” Mercedes said thinking of a place they could go to grab brunch and take it to-go. 

____________________

Michelle drank some more of her mimosa, leaning against the couch's arm. “So,” she said licking jam off her thumb “you still fucking that fine ass lawyer?” she asked her daughter. 

Mercedes picked their containers up off of her coffee table and she looked at her mother knowingly. “Mama” she said to her simply, she didn’t want to talk about Jaxon. She’s spent the better part of the last two weeks trying to forget him by drowning herself in work and sexual escapads with men she barely knew. He’d cut her off and pushed her aside like she was nothing. She didn’t love him but she had gotten used to the idea of him and now that she had no access to him, it made her sick to her stomach. 

“What?” Michelle asked, finishing off her drink she sat it on the coffee table. She watched the girl walk towards her kitchen and she said “come on now, you can’t tell me he ain’t fine” she pointed out. “And he got money” she listed “when yall gone stop fucking and start planning a damn wedding?” she pushed. 

“Are those all the factors you consider when you decide which man qualifies as a good husband for me?” Mercedes asked her mother deflecting “money and looks?” she added tossing the containers in her trash can. 

“Hell nawl” Michelle said “‘cause if a nigga Ike Turner you, my fat ass going to prison” she told her. “But he’s a great dude, I mean I didn’t meet him but that one time at the funeral. But he left a good impression, '' she said. “What’s wrong with him?” 

Mercedes leaned against the counter, she smacked her teeth quietly as her mother kept the conversation going. Hadn’t she caught the hint. She didn’t want to talk about Jaxon, not now, not ever. “Mama” she forewarned once more “I don’t want to be with him, I will not be with him, so drop it please”, with that being said the girl pushed off the counter. She walked out of the kitchen towards her couch, dropping down on it. 

Michelle looked Mercedes up and down as she dismissed her advances, it was the same old story with her daughter. The only difference this time was that Michelle had gotten extremely tired of it. Her eyes continued to follow the girl as she moved around her and sat back down in the seat she was in before. “I don’t give a damn about you not wanting to talk about it, I do” she said pointing to herself. “You can’t keep pretending like this shit don’t bother you” she said, poking her shoulder.

Mercedes looked at her mother with a raised brow “who is pretending?” she asked her. “I am not bothered about anything…” 

“You know what the hell I am talking about” Michelle countered “the shit you doing ain’t healthy…” 

“I am making money and minding my business” Mercedes said back to the older woman. “Anything else you are talking about I don’t follow” she told her. 

“Ever since Scooter died you been walking around like a robot, pretending to be affected by nothing and unmoved…” Michelle said softening. “You think it’s easy for me to sit back and watch you throw love away?” 

“Scooter has been gone for the last six years Mama, it’s not about that” Mercedes lied. 

“I watched you die a little inside” she measured on her fingers “when they killed that boy, and I get it. I’ve never experienced that I can’t tell you how to get through it but I do know you need to” she said wrapping her arm around the girl pulling her closely. “You can not keep pushing every good guy aside” she breathed, pecking her forehead as she hugged her to her chest. 

Mercedes leaned into her mother gently, she pursed her lips only to wipe away a stray tear. "It's not something you just let go of" she said softly, "I can't afford to be hurt again, I don't want to feel that kind of pain..."

[lifeofcedes]

Michelle Lewis

face-claimed as Patricia Williams "Ms. Pat"

Fifty-Six

Mercedes' Mother

[lifeofcedes]

“Dying is overrated. Human sentimentality has twisted it into the ultimate act of love. Biggest load of bullshit in the world. Dying for someone isn’t the hard thing. The man that dies escapes. Plain and simple. Game over. End of pain…Try living for someone. Through it all-good, bad, thick, thin, joy, suffering. That’s the hard thing.”

— Karen Marie Moning, Shadowfever