Coming For What's Mine Read online

  Coming for What’s Mine

  Joseph and Journey’s Tale

  Edwina Fort

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  BONUS CHAPTER!

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2018 by Edwina Fort

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below:

  Author Edwina Fort P.O. Box 346 Keithville, LA 1047 www.authoredwinafort.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Coming for What’s Mine/Edwina Fort. – 1st edition ISBN 978-0-692-18270-3

  Acknowledgements

  I’d like to first thank The Heavenly Father who chose me as a vessel and allowed me to use my pen as a weapon. I’d like to thank my husband who continues to support me and hold me up when my knees give out. I’d like to thank my children who do the very best they can to make only a little noise so mama can write…(LOL) I’d like to thank My sista, GilaYah Joy Beck-Hendrix, you have proven to be an asset I can’t be without. Without hesitation you joined me on the battlefield to help me carry this load, you give of yourself without expectancy of return favor. But today sista, I’d like to take the time and honor you. The world needs more Joys, but since we only have one, I thank The Most-High that I have you on my team.

  I’d like to thank my editor Bernadette (Kizzy) Johnson. I know I’m not the easiest to work with, but somehow you’ve managed to weather the storm, when all the smoke and the dust cleared, you were still standing, and for that sis I am eternally grateful.

  Finally, I’d like to thank my friends, family, and especially my fans, who took the time out to leave comments on my book and encourage me to continue writing. You guys have no idea how important your feedback is; it does wonders to defeat that voice of doubt. Thank you everybody!

  I have something that the rich will never have…enough

  - Joseph Heller

  Chapter One

  And The Father Is…

  Journey

  I was just trying to better myself. I wanted to make my mama proud, so that she could say at least one of her kids graduated high school and even went to college.

  “What we gon’ do?” My mother asked looking back at me with desperate eyes before turning to look through the peep hole again. The pounding on the door came again but this time louder. I should have just gone to a local college. The University of Illinois had an excellent botany program. Why didn’t I just go there? Why did I have to go to Georgetown? Why did I listen to my roommate and take that secretary job at the senator’s office? Why…dear God why did I have to catch the eye of the senator’s only son, who was so very brutal and also the youngest Senior Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Who would probably one day, if his father had anything to do with it, become president of the United States.

  “Open up, Ms. Reevers!” I closed my eyes as that deep voice washed down my spine. He wasn’t supposed to be here. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. How had it come to this?

  “Journey! What we gon’ do?” Tears were running down my mother’s beautiful face. I looked back towards my younger brother Rob’s bedroom. He and my older brother whose apartment is upstairs were frantically trying to flush their product down the toilet, but because they were going so fast pills were everywhere.

  Rome, my older brother and the head of our family ran back into Rob’s room before coming back out with three pistols. He looked around trying to decide what to do with them before going to the window, opening it and tossing them out. We lived on the third floor; please God don’t let any children be down there to get a hold of one of them.

  This was all my fault. That night should have never happened. I should have never slept with him. I knew how vicious he was. I had heard the stories. Putting my hand on my face I tried to stifle my screams when the pounding came louder. He hit the door so hard it caused it to shake on its foundation.

  I should have never run from him!

  “Get back away from the door!” Joseph yelled.

  My mother stumbled back just in time to avoid being hit by it as it crashed in busting the lock.

  “Freeze FBI!” The two officers with the man that has haunted my dreams for the last nine months yelled as they hurried in behind him pointing their guns at us. Rome and Rob threw what drugs they had left in their hands and ran out the back door.

  “Where you going boys?!” Jo yelled after them with a huge grin on his handsome face. Although he smiled, it didn’t reach his eyes. I knew him, he was pissed! My heart as well as my legs was frozen in fear. This was a nightmare! He wasn’t supposed to be here! Why was he here?

  “What’s up, Journey? You look like you see a ghost!” He stared at me with that intense angry gaze of his. He had a way of looking at me that made me feel as if he didn’t see anybody else in the room, only me. But I couldn’t help but be confused, why was he so angry?

  And yes, I did feel as if I was looking at a ghost. A dangerously handsome ghost! A powerful ghost that was well out of my league! He was the son of a senator! And as Alice his mother told me the day she came to pay me to disappear, destined to become the second black president of this great nation. Why was he here?

  My mother wrapped her arms around me trying to pull me out the way as several more agents came in through the back door. She and I both cried out when we saw that they had both of my brothers in handcuffs. One of the officers carried the three guns Rome had tossed out the window with him. They forced them down to their knees on the kitchen floor.

  Seeing my brother Romeo, who was something of a legend around these parts forced down to his knees was a bit of a shock to me. My heart was beating so loudly in my chest that it was causing my vision to vibrate with its force. Heavenly Father, please let Ayana stay asleep. There was a good chance he still didn’t know about her.

  “Search the place, bring me my baby!”

  “No!” I cried breaking away from my mother to run to my bedroom. But I never made it, Joseph moved then, so suddenly he startled my mother. He grabbed me around my waist lifting me off the ground. Complete chaos erupted! Both of my brothers shot to their feet when they saw him grab me.

  “Hey man, get yo’ hands off my sista!” Rome yelled charging at us, but two of the agents tackled him, wrestling him back to the ground. Another agent took down Rob, both of my brothers continued to fight trying to dislodge them.

  I went wild in Joseph’s arms, but it was no use, he was so strong. If my memory served correctly, underneath that custom made suit was a plethora of chocolate covered muscles that he kept toned up every morning in his home gym.

  “Let me go! Don’t touch my baby!” I yelled towards the room where the agent had disappeared.

  “Calm down,
Journey!” He hissed in my ear. A shiver raced down my spine as tears came to my eyes. My body had begun to betray me already. I don’t know if it was because I gave this man my virginity or if he was just that skilled of a lover, but he had a way of manipulating my body and mind to get me to do anything he wanted me to do.

  I was trying to talk, trying to ask him why he was here and what he wanted with my baby. But my emotions were such a wreck; I couldn’t even form a sentence around my crying. My gaze went back to Rome, who was now being choked on the ground by the agent.

  “Stop resisting!” He hissed at my brother as he continued to choke him.

  “You choking him!” I managed to get through my sobs. “Joseph! They choking him! Please tell them to stop!” Visions of all the recent deaths of black men by law enforcement raced through my head.

  “Please!” I cried out. Rome was the rock of our family; he was what held us all together. If something happened to him I will never forgive myself.

  “Let him go!” Rob yelled as he tried to get to the officer that was choking Rome. “You cowards take them handcuffs off him and let him defend himself!” Rome’s eyes rolled to the back of his head.

  “Please God!” My mother cried collapsing to her knees. She had her hands together and was praying through her tears.

  This was all my fault!

  “Joseph!” I cried, pleading for mercy to a man that it was no secret had none.

  “Calm down and I’ll tell him to stop!” I did, instantly. He threw me on the couch and then signaled for the man to let Rome go. When he did my brother began to gasp, greedily sucking air into his lungs. I shot off the couch to go to him, but Joseph grabbed me around my waist, throwing me back on the couch.

  “Don’t move!” He yelled.

  He was so angry! I had never seen him like this.

  The agent came out the room holding Ayana, he had taken the time to wrap her in her blanket. Instinctively, I stood to take my baby from the strange hands, but Joseph’s angry gaze shot back to me and I eased back down on the couch. I was such an emotional wreck, I was shaking. On one hand, the life of my brother, who was the pillar of our family was at stake and on the other hand, strangers were handling my three-month-old baby. I wanted to scream, never in my life feeling this trapped.

  Another agent came through the front door carrying a silver case in her hand. She sat it on the table before opening it. Inside the case was what looked like a mini-lab. Quickly she put on a pair of latex gloves before removing two big cotton swabs. When she walked towards Ayana with them, Rome shot off the floor again, but was soon tackled back to the ground.

  “Don’t touch my niece!” He hissed. My gaze shot up to Joseph.

  “What are they doing to her?” I asked clutching the couch on the side of my legs so hard my knuckles turned white. It was taking everything in me to stay seated. Joseph didn’t answer, he just looked down at me as if I was the dirt underneath his expensive Italian leather boot.

  The woman gently ran the swab just inside Ayana mouth, who instantly begin to make the sucking sound causing my milk to come down. When the woman removed the swab, my baby started to fuss, now ready to eat. To my surprise, the agent that was holding her handed her to Joseph, who gently began to rock her, causing her to drift back to sleep.

  When he looked down at her, that anger and hate that he looked at me with disappeared. He looked at her with a mix between curiosity and wonder. Something in my very being revolted at seeing him cradling her. He paid to get rid of her; he wanted me to have an abortion. Why was he now holding her as if she was the rarest thing on earth?

  The female agent gently put the swab in a little canister that had blue jelly like liquid in it before she walked to Joseph.

  “Open up, Boss.” Without looking away from his daughter Joseph opened his mouth. After she took the sample from it, she put the swab in another canister of blue jelly. Then she went back to her make-shift lab and put both the samples in some kind of device that began to shake them so rapidly they could no longer be seen by the eye. Moments later her hands were flying across the keyboard.

  Everybody sat and watched her. Even my brothers and mother had calmed down once they realized what was happening. The anger on Rome’s face let me know that I was in big trouble, but his anger paled in the presence of Joseph’s, who was older than my brother and more powerful. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me. I already knew what the results were.

  Joseph was the only man I had ever slept with and it had only been for one night, after going out drinking with Michelle, my roommate from school. I shook my head. I blamed her for all of this. She was the one that told me about the secretary position at the senator’s office. She said it would be perfect if I took it, because she was interning there.

  I was at Georgetown on a scholarship for their botany program. And although Rome was sending me money on a regular, I’d figured getting a job on my own would be the grown-up thing to do. I was spreading my wings after all. It was the first time in my life I had been from under my brother’s protective covering. And it felt good to be making decisions on my own.

  I had been working in the office for two weeks before I saw Senator Warren for the first time. He was a very busy man and a big deal in D.C. Michelle told me that his family was one of the richest black families in the world. I felt like a fish out of water working there. I was the only one that didn’t come from a prestigious family. The only one from the ghetto. The only one in the office with locs and the only one that wore colors. Everybody else dressed in black and white, and every now and again dark blue. Everything I owned was warm oranges, bright yellows, and vivid reds.

  So, you can imagine my surprise when one day while I was filing away some things in the file cabinet, I looked up to see Senator Warren’s only son that up until that day I had only heard about, who was an even bigger deal than his father standing there watching me as if I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

  Because he scared the hell out of me, being too big, too old, and way too handsome, I turned away as if I didn’t even notice. And I did an excellent job at avoiding him for a while, but Michelle called me all kinds of fools.

  “Girl, are you nuts? There ain’t a woman in all of Washington that wouldn’t give their left breast to have that man sending them flowers and candy.” She ran her hand through her long hair that she spent hours each morning flat ironing.

  “I’ve been trying to get him to notice me for the last two years. Nothing! I can’t even get him to glance my way. One time I bumped into him determined to get him to look at me, that joker didn’t even look away from his phone, just muttered excuse me and kept on walking.”

  I stood there holding the beautiful bouquet of flowers that had just been delivered to the office in my arms, more flattered than I had ever been and more afraid.

  “I don’t know Michelle, he’s a bit much don’t you think?” She waved that a way.

  “So what he’s older than you? What difference do a few years make?” I looked at her as if she had gone loco.

  “A few years? The man is thirty-two, I just turned nineteen!”

  “Pst! That just mean you’ll have an experienced lover for your first time. Do you know how many of us wish a man with experience could’ve been the one to take our virginity? Mine was taken by a thirteen-year-old that had no clue of which hole he should have been aiming for.” My mouth dropped.

  “Thirteen? Oh, my goodness, how old were you?” She waved that question away.

  “Once again my sweet eclectic friend, you’re missing the point completely.” I chuckled. Michelle was a crazy gal, she was attending Georgetown to become a lawyer, which was why she was interning with Senator Warren, who had been a judge before taking office.

  “Oh sorry, I wasn’t aware that you were trying to make a point.” She narrowed her eyes.

  “Well open your ears ‘cause I am. The point I’m trying to make is, aren’t you at all curious as to what it would be like, to be with t
hat type of man? He’s so powerful and dangerous. Wouldn’t you like to see what sex would be like with a guy that could make you and your whole family disappear like that?” She snapped her fingers.

  I frowned trying to see what the appeal was in that. She waved my look away.

  “Plus, he so fine. Oh, my goodness he looks just like that guy…” she snapped her fingers as she thought about it.

  “What’s that guy’s name…?” She continued to snap her fingers. “You know the one that use to be a real estate agent but then he became a model…” she continued to snap her fingers.

  “The one that looks like he could be related to Idris Elba…” Snap…Snap… “Oh goodness, what is his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue.” Right when I motioned for her to get to the point her eyes brightened with recognition.

  “Donnell Blaylock, Jr.!”

  I shook my head. “Never heard of him.”

  “Girl… he is a tall, fine, piece of chocolate sin on legs.” As she spoke she frowned up her face as if it hurt her mouth to even speak on it. “Just like Joseph. If I were you I would get over that shyness, stop avoiding his phone calls and accept his invitation to take you out to dinner.” I exhaled.

  “Michelle you know a man like that will never take somebody like me seriously.” She looked at me as if I had grown a lump out of my head.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m from the westside of Chicago. My family don’t have a name. We don’t have a lot of money. He’s not looking for a commitment he’s looking for a little young play thing, and I’m not in the market for that.”

  “Why not?!” She yelled causing the people that were waiting to meet with Senator Warren to look up. I smiled at them before hissing for her to control her vocal levels.

  “Because,” I said very quietly hoping it would encourage Michelle to follow suit. “I have a lot going on right now. I need to focus on my studies—” she cut me off before I could even finish speaking.