Free Most Wanted by Nikki Turner, Kiki Swinson Page A

myself. It was all part of the plan. I knew I had to start an argument with Sidney, so his questions just made it that much easier for me to pick a fight. How else would I get out of the house at night without questions?
    “Gigi . . . um . . . I didn’t mean it that way,” Sidney said, apologetically putting his hands up in front of him. I swear he looked like I had just slapped him in the face. I felt badly, but I had to keep up the act.
    “Yeah, you never mean shit when you treat me like I’m one of your kids. That’s what the fuck I get fucking with a man who thinks he’s my father. Please . . . just leave me alone. I’m going out!” I continued my tirade for good measure. I had to make it seemed as real as possible. I also had to make it all Sidney’s fault so that whenever I returned home he wouldn’t ask me any more fucking questions.
    “Are you done with your inquisition?!” I asked, hand on my hip. Sidney just stared at me like I was crazy. “Good! And don’t blow up my fucking cell phone while I am out. I’ll be home whenever I get back here!” I boomed. I kind of felt bad once I was out of the house. I knew Sidney didn’t deserve what I had just done. But it was either that or put him in harm’s way. I left the house unaware of what would happen next. All I could do now was pray.

8
    Payback Is a Bitch
    D riving to the meeting place, I’d thought about calling my mother to tell her I loved her, just in case. I’d even picked up my cell phone several times and dialed her number only to hang it up. I finally thought it best not to worry her, because knowing my mother, she would’ve sent the police out to find me or, worse, called Sidney and had him out on the streets looking for me.
    I slowed my car down near Highway 264. A sense of dread filled me as I looked out at the place I was going. There was nothing fucking pretty about it, that was for sure. Anything could happen there without anyone noticing for a long time. Ace had instructed me to meet him at the Tides stadium parking lot in Norfolk. Everyone knew that the stadium parking lot was under Highway 264, which was desolate as hell at night. It definitely was no place for me. Only drug fiends, rapists, and other scary-ass creeps hung out there after the sun went down. A fact that didn’t give me a good feeling inside while heading to the stadium. I imagined a hundred things Ace might say or, worse, do to me when I arrived. Ace wasn’t the nicest person in the world, that was a fact. It didn’t matter if you were a woman or a man, if he wanted you dead, you’d be dead. I had heard stories about how Ace had killed one of his baby mothers for stealing from him. Rumor had it he’d shot her in the back of the head and put her dead body on her mother’s doorstep. Ace then went to court, acted like he had no clue what happened to the girl, and fought for custody of his son. Crazy shit! Warren told me he always depended on Ace when there was a really dirty job to be done . . . like when they wanted to wipe someone completely out. No remains was how they referred to the types of hits Ace carried out on niggas. He’d wipe out the person’s entire existence. The only thing that might save me was the fact that I believed or at least hoped that Warren did love me at one time. Then again, I’m guessing Ace had cared about his baby mother at a time before he executed her ass too. Damn, hindsight was surely twenty-twenty. If I could rewind time, I might’ve just left town broke as hell—no diamonds, no money. I sighed. I couldn’t change what I had done, so now I was going to face the music. I said more than one silent prayer as I peered out of my windshield at the deserted area. It was no place for a woman at night.
    My heart thumped painfully against my sternum as I pulled my car slowly into the stadium parking lot. I could see a lone black SUV off in the distance as I inched my car forward at a snail’s pace. I just assumed it was Ace and