Page 27 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

My hands were shaking as I stood near the park bench waiting for Buckee and his crew to arrive.

My father stood on the other side of me as he paced the ground.

He made arrangements to meet up so we could do the exchange, but I didn’t trust my father with this kind of money.

If I learned nothing else, it was that he wasn’t someone who could be trusted with money.

“What if he flakes on us? What if they did something to her and she?—”

“You can’t think like that, sweet pea. We have to trust they will uphold their end and we’re gonna get her back safely.

I know I let you down, but I promise I never meant for things to go this way.

I’ve tried my best to make sure that you all were never affected by my choices, but I messed up big this time.

” His statement was a grave understatement.

We were standing at a rundown park waiting for criminals to release my sister back into our custody.

No apologies would ever be enough to make up for the bullshit he put us through.

“Is that him?” I pointed toward a man who was dressed in a cream-colored suit. He was a tall, heavy-set individual with his hair braided in cornrows. As he came closer, I noticed the cigar tucked between his lips.

“Yeah, that’s him.” I glanced around but didn’t see any signs of Riya, sending my heartrate into overdrive. I immediately began to panic thinking we were being set up.

“Good evening, Slack. You don’t look nearly as bad as you should,” Buckee retorted.

“Good evening. Where is my daughter? I thought we had a deal.” My father fired back. Buckee’s belly bounced as he let out a hearty laugh.

“You have a lot of nerve questioning me about a deal when you tried to get over on me. You must not know who I am, because if you did, you would have never played with your life like this. Since you wanted to play games, I had to make sure this wasn’t another set up.

Now where is my bread?” My father turned his attention to me as I held a tight grip on the bag.

I wasn’t sure what to do next because I wasn’t comfortable handing the money over without seeing my sister.

“Where is she?” I finally spoke up, keeping my eyes on him in case he made a suspicious move. We were supposed to come unarmed, but I carried a blade tucked inside of my sock just in case.

“Aht, aht. I’m the one running the show here. All you need to do is give me my money.” His tone was calm, but I could hear the underlying threat within it.

“I want to see her before I hand the money over. I don’t know what kind of deal you and my father had going on, but I don’t feel comfortable handing over this money without verifying that my sister is alive.

” Although I wasn’t in a position to make demands, I wasn’t budging on this. I needed to lay eyes on my girl.

“Fine. Have it your way.” Buckee lifted his phone and spoke in code then stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

I looked around for my sister, and I wanted to cry when they pulled her from the car.

Her head hung, and it looked as if she wasn’t able to walk on her own.

The closer they got, I realized something was wrong with her.

They must have given her some kind of drug or something because her feet were dragging on the ground as they walked over to us.

I tossed the duffel bag at Buckee’s feet and took off running toward my sister.

As soon as I got close enough, I hugged her tightly in my arms. The men stepped back as the two of us fell to the ground.

Her hair was stringy, and she smelled sour as if she hadn’t had a bath in a long time.

I cradled her in my arms as I tried to figure out what was wrong with her.

Moving her hair out of her face, I pulled her eyelids open so I could see her pupils.

They were dilated as I suspected, and I had no idea what they had given her.

Hearing my father screaming, I lifted my head up to see him being beaten.

Emotionally, I was distraught, and being in such a defenseless position only made things worse.

I picked up the phone to call the ambulance because there was no way I would be able to carry my sister and my father back to the car.

There was only so much one person could take, and I could feel myself on the verge of a breakdown.

After the men were done, they headed back to their cars.

Buckee passed by us, but I kept my head down because everything in me wanted to take my knife out and stab him until he stopped breathing.

However, I was smart enough to know it wouldn’t end well for me.

He was surrounded by an entourage that was more than likely armed.

Instead, I hugged my sister tighter and prayed our family would be able to recover from this.

The ambulance arrived, and everything happened so fast. Before I knew it, we were sitting in a cold hospital room waiting for the doctor to get Riya’s tox screens back. They gave her something to flush out her system, but we still needed answers.

“I can’t believe they did this to you, and now you’ve got to walk around with this cast on your arm.” My mother fussed over my father as if my sister wasn’t lying up in the bed with tubes and IVs coming out of her.

“I’m fine, Rochelle. I’m lucky they didn’t kill me.”

“Well, I’m glad we were able to come up with the money in time.

I don’t know what I would have done without you.

” My face twisted in disgust as she fawned all over him.

Then there were the comments she made regarding the money.

My father barely contributed a thousand dollars, and she gave nothing.

The fact that she could sit here and try to take credit for something she had no part in baffled me.

I wanted to say something, but I also didn’t want to cause a ruckus in the hospital.

Riya was my first priority even if our parents were a bunch of self-centered imbeciles.

“Good afternoon, everyone, I’m Dr. Tasmith. I wanted to come in and give you a few updates on Ms. Carter’s condition. As you know, we have run a series of toxicology screenings to determine what kind of drugs were in her system. Here are the documents, and they have everything broken down.

“It appears she had a mixture of narcotics in her system, including heroin. We are going to be treating her for possible withdrawal symptoms. Now, with that being said, we do recommend you take a look at some of the treatment facilities we have listed in the pamphlet we provided you. As a family, it is imperative that you rally behind her and encourage her to get the help she needs. We see a lot of patients her age, but there is still hope if you act sooner rather than later.”

I wanted to tell him that my sister didn’t have a drug problem, but due to the nature of the situation, I couldn’t.

I was starting to regret not calling the police because all of this had gotten out of hand.

After he finished giving us a run down of the next steps, he exited the room.

An awkward silence loomed over us, but it was for the best. I had nothing good to say to either of them.

“And where the hell were you when they were beating your father to a bloody pulp? You could have at least tried to defend him. What the hell were you even doing there in the first place?” I bit my tongue so hard it began to bleed.

I had let my mother get away with a lot of things, but this was too much for me.

“You’ve got a lot of opinions for a bitch who did absolutely nothing to save her own daughter.

I’m the one who risked my life to get the money to save them both.

What did you do? What did you contribute?

Huh? Outside of running your mouth and making excuses for your husband.

You mean to tell me that you couldn’t call on any of those men you’re fucking to help you save your child? Your pussy must be trash.”

“Hey, now. Sweet pea, I think?—”

“No, Daddy. I love you to death, but I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. You made a selfish and dumb ass decision that could have brought tragedy to this entire family. I don’t care that they beat you up because, quite frankly, you deserved it.”

“You listen here, you little bitch! I always knew you would turn out to be evil. I saw it the moment you came home from the hospital.” Rochelle seethed. It stung a little, but it was nothing worse than what I’ve heard most of my life. My mother made her hatred for me abundantly clear.

“Well, I learned from the best. You are a selfish, evil bitch, and trust me, I hate being your daughter as much as you hate being my mother. I wish you had taken your ass to the clinic because being raised by you was far worse than death. The only reason I still come around is because of my siblings, but I’m beginning to think you don’t need to raise them yourself. ”

“Alright now, sweet pea. I understand emotions are running high, but there is no need to be so nasty. Yes, I messed up, but we’re all human.

Your mother has held things down for our family during my stints in prison, and even though we weren’t perfect, we always provided for you all.

” I chuckled angrily in response to his delusions.

“Oh, you think it was Mommy who was taking care of the family while you were locked up? Well, since this will probably be the last time this family is all together, maybe we should lay it all on the table? Huh?” My eyes shot over to Rochelle, who was shifting in her chair.

The nerve of the devil to be nervous after all of the hell she caused.

“W-What do you mean? Rochelle, what is she talking about?”

“Your daughter is dramatic and likes to embellish things. I don’t know what she’s referring to, baby.” I tilted my head, taking enjoyment in watching her squirm.