Misunderstood (Toussaint Mafia #4)

Chapter 18

Brooklyn: Mom, how long will you be gone? Dad is like a freaking hound dog not even letting me go to class and I have to get out of here! Please come back home, I need to talk to you and see you. I miss you.

Davido: Baby, I need you. Fly home today to see us. Plus, Brooklyn is acting off. I tried to talk to her, and she spazzed out on me and shit. I had to take her car keys and her credit cards. Her therapist said she hasn’t been going to the sessions and I heard her talking about moving into that lil niggas crib. This shit has gotten out of hand Jazz and we gotta get a handle on her before it gets worse. Did you tell them everything about the life we have now? More lies will only hurt them worse in the end, Jazz. Tell them baby so we can work on blending the family and healing.

J azmine put her phone away and took a slow drag of her joint. She peered out over the balcony of Boston’s penthouse, staring down at the bustling traffic. Her lies were running out of the closet she hid them in, and she was petrified at how her kids would react when it all came out. Slowly she was being welcomed into her girls’ lives and in an instant it could be gone again. This time it would be for good, she was sure. So, she was trying to pour as much love into them as she could before she confessed the one secret that would shatter their heart. Because if they knew that while she was away, she conceived a child with Davido, they would hate her soul. Hell, sometimes she despised herself for how she let Carlos keep her girls away. It was no excuse for it, and they wouldn’t see her point of view.

“You okay, mom?” Boston asked, as she stuck her head out of the balcony doors.

Jazmine flicked her joint off the balcony, her gaze softening as she looked at her stunning daughter. Jazmine had always known she was pretty, but her girls? They were in a league of their own. They were drop-dead gorgeous, and every day she felt like the luckiest woman alive to have them back in her life.

“I’m okay baby. Is Noa resting? You need me to get her for you?”

Boston smiled at the mention of her daughter.

“No, she’s good. I just finished breast feeding her so she’s asleep right now. You seem stressed. You wanna pray?” Boston asked.

Jazmine smiled. Carlos never let her get too deep into church, so she loved that Boston was forming a relationship with God. Jazmine hadn’t been able to do that until she went to LA.

“I would love to, baby.”

Jazmine stood and made sure her Chanel blouse was pulled down before heading into the penthouse with Boston. Boston led them to her bedroom that she transformed into her spiritual room, and they kneeled on a set of pillows. Jazmine faced her daughter and remembered every detail of her beautiful face before closing her eyes.

“God, I thank you for so many things, but my biggest blessing is you bringing my mommy back to me. I pray you bless her God and make her feel better. Please take her worry away and I know I haven’t been praying long, but I’m trying so please show me the way. Amen.”

“Also, God, thank you for showing grace by allowing me to be in the presence of my kids again. I will forever be grateful for your mercy, oh Lord. There is no one like you and we praise you, Amen,” Jazmine added softly.

Jazmine and Boston stood then they traveled into Boston’s bedroom. Boston climbed into the bed and Jazmine sat near her feet.

“When do you think they will have the water leak fixed at your new home?” Jazmine asked Boston.

Boston got comfortable under the covers while looking at her.

“Soon I hope. I love the penthouse because this is where me and Peace connected as a couple, but our new home gives us a fresh start and it’s the place where we will raise Noa. I wanna be there and I can’t wait for the leak to be fixed so I can finish decorating. Maxine offered for us to come to her place, but I couldn’t do that. Mom, were you always cool with Maxine?” Boston asked, making a face.

Jazmine snickered, then nodded.

“Yes, I’ve known her longer than I haven’t at this point. I’ve learned to not take people and their ways personal. Now if there ways interfere with my peace, then I will let them go, but if they don’t and I can tolerate them because I have to, then I take them at face value. Maxine is a lot to handle, but that’s who she is. Make sure that she respects your role as Peace’s wife and the mother of her grandkid. She’s all bark and no bite, baby.”

Boston got comfortable under the covers and sighed while Jazmine touched her foot gently.

“When I was a girl, I would spend my summers by the bayou in Louisiana with my father’s mother. She was a soulful, loving woman that instilled many good things into me. I had the best times with her, and she meant so much to me. When I married your father she passed away and,” Jazmine stopped speaking as her eyes glossed over. When Boston tried to sit up to console her, she shook her head. “It’s fine baby. But when I learned of her death, I was broken. I flew to Louisiana and immediately went to her shack off the water. I was able to see her one last time and before my family could even make the arrangements, your father was there dragging me away. He claimed to have an emergency of some sort, but the fact was he was angry that I hadn’t asked him if I could go,” Jazmine sighed as she looked back on her hellish years she spent with Carlos.

“When we got on that jet, we fought like enemies off the street. Eventually I got tired, but he didn’t, and I told myself that I would leave him the minute I got the chance. But then I got pregnant with Meilani, and I got scared. He had so much power and I was afraid of him. Leaving an abusive person is very hard. Especially when they have fear instilled in you, along with money, to back their evil ways. I let my fears keep me with him past the expiration date, and that is where I really messed up, Boston. That resulted in the life we have now and I’m sorry, baby. I wish that I would have been brave enough to walk away. Even if I had to die trying because at least you all would have had a better chance at making it out of his grasp, but I will make it right. I will make it all better if I can,” Jazmine vowed.

Boston’s eyes were glossy as she nodded. Jazmine stood and kissed Boston’s cheek before looking down at her.

“Enjoy your rest while I have this spa night with your mother-in-law.”

Jazmine gave Boston one last smile before exiting the bedroom. She found Peace in the hallway, leaning against the wall with a drink in his hand and indifferent eyes. When she looked up at him, he stepped off the wall and cleared his throat.

“You good, mom?” he asked, always so polite.

Nothing like his whoremonger of a father that Maxine had been married to.

“I actually need something from you, baby, and I want this to stay between us, okay?”

Peace nodded as his brows furrowed.

“Whatever you need, I got you.”

Jazmine smiled.

“Thank you,” she replied before calling off what she needed from him.

Two hours later, Jazmine rested on her back inside of the spa with Maxine. She was upset with herself for neglecting to call Davido and her daughter and made a mental note to do that as soon as she left the spa.

“Jazz, it feels so good to have you back, girl. We are the only good looking bitches left in this city. I grew bored being the only eye candy around,” Maxine sighed.

Jazmine rolled her eyes.

“Maxine, stop it. It’s a lot of beautiful women our age that’s still here. Plus, it’s good to see that Yaseer’s mom has come back around. After her husband died, she swore she would never return.”

Maxine gagged.

“She looks a hot fucking mess. Round, loud, and in everybody’s business. She’s lucky she was able to lock down her husband because that was her saving grace. I always knew he had a thing for big women. That’s why he never pursued me when we were younger. Also, let’s not forget he went and had a football team of kids on her,” Maxine grimaced before clearing her throat. “But I miss seeing his handsome face, you know them Marceline men are something else. The sexiest men in town, weren’t they? Whew!”

Jazmine turned her head away from Maxine, not looking to entertain useless chatter.

“Maxine, I’m just happy to be back here with my kids. I never thought I would make it back. Did you look after them for me?”

“Jazz please don’t insult me. I loved those girls like they were my own kids,” Maxine replied.

Jazmine was silent before laughing, which made Maxine join in with her.

“Maxine cut the bullshit. But seriously, I expected for you and Rebecca to be there for them, but I understand how it is. Life happens and you sometimes lose track of what’s important,” Jazmine spoke, thinking of her own mistakes. She knew she was in no position to be angry with Maxine.

“You would know that seeing as how you set me up to die, then left me and our kids to be with my brother,” Carlos interjected bitterly.

Jazmine closed her eyes as she felt the room grow icy. She turned and saw Maxine was gradually rising off the table. Maxine avoided eye contact with her as she scrambled to the connected room that was reserved for you to change in. Jazmine sat up on the table and used the towel to cover her body as she looked at her husband. Carlos Toussaint. He had once been the apple of her eye. Her dream man and quickly she saw he wasn’t the knight but the villain in her story.

“Hello Carlos,” she spoke calmly, looking at the grey hairs in his beard and age lines marring his forehead. “You look horrible.”

Carlos, donning an old suit that was too small for his frame, glowered at Jazmine. He settled near the door he entered on antsy feet, as he couldn’t seem to stop himself from pacing the floor.

“I don’t have many words for you. But I must say that I wish you was dead because the things you put me through are unforgivable. You know that, right?” he asked.

Jazmine’s brows knitted together before she smiled, showing off her deep dimples and flawless veneers.

“Is that right?”

Carlos bitterly spit on the ground as he glared her way.

“Do the girls know about the other child you went and made? I knew I made a mistake by letting her live. You're such a slut! I should have left you in the fifth ward where I found you!”

Jazmine nodded, no longer affected by his heartless words. She glared at the man to whom she had given her heart, her body, and most of her younger years. She had given Carlos everything for so long, and it still wasn’t enough. Jazmine now understood that he was a bad person who would never love her right. Had she stayed with him, he would have continued to make her life hell.

“Carlos, you’re on the run from the law and the Founding Members. If I’m going down, then you are too. I wish this could have all ended the day Davido stepped into that cold house of pain. But it didn’t, and finally, we can end this marriage once and for all. Did you bring the papers with you?”

Carlos snickered as he brandished a gun. He aimed the hand gun her way as Jazmine swallowed hard. She looked at the man that caused her so much pain and her eyes watered. This was the end.

Really, the end and a part of her was relieved.

“You would really kill me? After everything you’ve done, I’m still the bad guy, huh? Davido loves me in ways that you never could, Carlos. He is a good man, a man that you could never compare to and for so many years, he made me smile. So do what you have to do but know that you didn’t stop it from happening. I’m back with my girls. You didn’t keep me away, and we still found love with each other, Carlos. I was able to still have a genuine love from a man. Our kids will leave this earth knowing that I loved them, and they will know who you truly are. You will have to die knowing you stopped nothing from happening, goodbye Carlos,” she told him.

Carlos’s eyes surged with rage as he walked towards Jazmine. She closed her eyes as he stepped in between her legs and lowered the gun. He drew her into a tense embrace, and she felt her stomach recoil from his touch. No longer did he give her the feeling of love.

“You’ll die knowing that not only am I placing a bullet in your body, but after I leave here, I’m catching a flight to California to kill Davido and that abomination of a child that you conceived with him. Everything you and him built will die in the next two days. Goodbye Jazz, my love. See you in hell,” he whispered.

Jazmine was swift with the needle she placed in his neck. She plunged the drugs into Carlos’ system, instantly loading him up with poison and Carlos never saw it coming. She watched his eyes blink rapidly from the feeling of shock as he took a step back. The gun was the first to fall from his hand before he used both hands to touch his face that seemed to lose feeling. Seconds later, Peace and his cleanup crew entered the room, and she made sure her body was covered as Peace grabbed Carlos before he could fall. Maxine was in the room minutes later, handing Jazmine a large blanket. Jazmine looked at Carlos one last time as he was being transported out of the room, and her eyes drifted to Maxine. Jazmine opened her mouth to speak, and her tears came out instead. Maxine pulled her into a hug and embraced her tightly as Jazmine wept from her belly. Years of abuse, pain and regret came out of her as she mourned the phase of her life that was finally over.

“Let it out. That piece of shit is finally dead. You did the right thing, Jazz. You can finally move on,” Maxine consoled her, and Jazmine cried heavily, knowing that the end of the road for her was further away than Maxine knew. Considering her daughters were still unaware of the child she had waiting for her in Calabasas.