Free Still Wifey Material by Kiki Swinson Page B

on?” I managed to utter, my voice quivering.
    “Shut the fuck up! I’m the one that’s gonna ask the questions.”
    I tried desperately to swallow the knot caught in the center of my throat. Instead of breaking down, I stood there and waited for him to tell me why he was there.
    “Get back in the office and stand up against the wall,” he instructed. I did as he told me. Moments later, Carmen and Rachael appeared around the corner with tears rolling down their faces. I wanted so badly to say something to them, but I knew I would be putting my life in jeopardy, so I only gave them eye contact.
    “Get over there by the wall and stand next to her,” another masked man told Carmen and Rachael.
    I couldn’t tell you who these two men were, and I wouldn’t be able to make out their voices if I ever heard them again, because it seemed like everybody in Houston sounded just alike. The only difference between the two of them was that the guy who stuck the gun in my face was taller than the one who had Carmen and Rachael at gunpoint. I just wanted to give them what they wanted and let them leave without any problems. I just hoped Carmen and Rachael felt the same way.
    “Where’s the money?” the taller guy asked. His voice was intimidating and sadistic, and I knew he meant business.
    I spoke up first. “What money are you talking about?”
    “I’m talking about all the money y’all made today. I want y’all to empty your pockets and put everything on the table.”
    All three of us dug deep into our pockets and our handbags and pulled out every dollar we had, and laid the money on my desk. I couldn’t be too sure, but I knew Carmen and Rachael had to put down every bit of two grand a piece, considering they both had a couple of sew-ins to do, along with three lace-front wigs. Thank God I only added about $123 to the stack because if I would’ve had one penny more, I probably would have freaked out by now.
    “Take off your jewelry too,” he demanded.
    I almost shit on myself. I had a seven-thousand-dollar diamond necklace around my neck, twenty-six-hundred-dollar diamond stud earrings in my ears, and a four-thousand-dollar Rolex on my wrist. I’d just copped these three pieces with the dough I took from Quincy’s crib right before I left Virginia, and I wasn’t trying to part with them. However, I knew that if I didn’t, they’d take my jewelry and try to make me pay for trying to keep it. I wasn’t willing to go through all of that so I carefully took off my jewelry and laid the pieces across the desk, beside the money.
    Rachael had on a one-and-a-half-carat diamond wedding set that looked like it probably cost about two-thousand-dollars, and a pair of gold hoop earrings. She removed everything and set it beside my things. Carmen had on a ton of some expensive shit. She had on a five-carat diamond engagement ring, a platinum-and-diamond bracelet, a pair of white gold-and-diamond hoop earrings, and a platinum chain flooded with black diamonds that happened to belong to her fiancé, Xavier. Carmen had told us that chain cost forty-thousand-dollars. From what I’d heard, Xavier was a big-time dealer out here in these streets, and he was known not to be fucked with, so I knew he was going to be furious when he found out that these motherfuckers took his shit. Carmen knew this too, so before she made a move to take off any of her jewelry, she got up the nerve to give these cats a choice.
    “Before I take off all my jewelry, I just wanted to let you know that my fiancé’s name is X, and if he finds out that I was robbed and his chain was taken, he ain’t gonna be happy.”
    The leader stepped in Carmen’s face and stood toe to toe with her. “Do you think I give a fuck about that nigga you fuck with?”
    Her voice was barely audible. “Well, please don’t take my ring! We’re about to get married in a couple of months.”
    “I don’t give a damn! Now take that shit off before I go upside your