Jail's Bait: Time Served (Book 5)

Jake, dressed to the nines, stood smiling from within the group of black-clad thugs who silently pointed shotguns at the small group of Hill family members and staff.

“What do you mean, get off of your property?” Regine asked in a huff.  “You O.D.ing on something...?”

“Just what I said, Ms. Regine,” Jake replied with a chilling grin.  “And I’m not crazy, nor am I on drugs.  This is my property, since today- but I’ll explain in a moment.”  He looked upstairs towards where Lionel, Marquis and Rahrah stood, also in mute shock.  “Yoo hoo, you guys upstairs- come on down, with your hands up- so don’t trip coming down, now…” he added in that same chilling grin.

Upstairs, Marquis glared down at the man who was supposed to be his friend.   “Jake, what in the hell are you up to-”

-RahRah, however, shushed him: “Son, I know you want want answers, but don’t react… look at all those guns trained on our family.  Just follow us down and stay quiet.”

Marquis took an immense effort, yet he restrained himself as Lionel and Rahrah, hands held high, went down the stairs and came over to where the others stood.

Lamar, who was standing over by Malik, looked at the men who joined them.  “RahRah, where’s my father?” he asked with alarm.

Jake interrupted.  “Before you answer that, answer this- where’s your son?”

Rahrah turned around.  Marquis, of course, had not come downstairs behind himself and Lionel; for that matter, he had managed to vanish.  Rahrah turned back to Jake, wide-eyed.  “He- he was right behind me…”

“Of course he was,” Jake said impatiently; “I saw him too.  But he never made it down the stairs, and I don’t see where he could have gone.”  Jake sighed dramatically.  “No matter, there’s nothing he can do on his own, and if he leaves the house, my guards outside will catch him…”

RahRah turned to look at Kap, who looked as astonished as he did.  He cast a backward glance at the stairs…  Ahhh, Marquis, what are you up to now…?

******

While this exchange was going on in the foyer, Marquis was slipping unseen through the walls, trying to figure his way onward.  He thanked God for all those times he visited Smithers here at Crimson Crest to play chess.  With all the stories the old butler would tell him about life at the mansion, Marquis figured he knew the estate and the grounds better than anyone else in the family, possibly even better than Joe, who grew up here yet obviously took the place for granted.

On one of his earlier visits Smithers had shown Marquis an old secret passageway, one which the servants used back when Crimson Crest hosted dinner parties, giving the servants space to maneuver food and drinks between floors without compromise.  The passage was a sort of spiral ramp which led from the top floor of the manor down to the ground-level kitchen, and it could be accessed by the same panel on each floor.  Pressing the right spot in the wall behind the panel farthest left before the staris began would discreetly move it back into itself, allowing enough space for a servant to enter the passage without being observed.  Since Joe had discontinued the tradition of parties here at Crimson Crest, no one had use for  it anymore, and as far as Marquis believed, only Smithers remained of the old staff who had remembered it once existed.  Smither only remembered it himself after Marquis' constant berating the old man on the subject, refusing to believe that there were no secret passageways ever built into a house like this.

Marquis spectulated that now this hidden corridor was found, that there were more that maybe even Smithers didn’t know about… yet Marquis never took the time to explore the manor.  And yet, knowing that he alone knew about this passage gave him some momentary comfort- 

Oh wait, I forgot, he mentally smacked himself- I’m not the only one who knows about this space… and he hurried off into the cobwebbed gloom.

******

Jake looked around the balustrade which fringed the 2nd floor.  After looking upwards for a moment, he turned his eyes to Kap, who stood glaring at Jake with disgust.  “You know, I thought you would be the one to give me trouble…” Jake nodded at Kap.

“Give me a moment, you French Flake fuck,” Kap spat at him.

“Ahhhh, monsieur,” Jake sarcastically drawled in his French accent, “do you not like ze way we of Paris communicate...?  Is ze accent so horrible to ze uncultured ear...?”

“GOD- shut up, already,” Kap growled.

Jake chuckled, lasping back into his American accent.  “So, Kap- you can tell me… did I really get on your nerves with that irritating French accent...?”  He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper that nevertheless carried throughout the foyer: “I’ll tell you a secret- I couldn’t stand it either.  But, after growing up in Paris, I learned that the one thing Americans really can’t stand is the arrogance of the French accent.  I liked using it to piss all you punks off.”

“Where’d you get the goons…?  Who’d want to take orders from a creampuff,” Kap sneered at Jake.  “I’ve eaten doughnuts harder than you.”

“Michael, maybe this isn’t the right time to antagonize…” Lamar warned.

Jake smiled at Lamar deprecatingly.  “Its fine... I can take it.  Playing the dozens is the cornerstone of my relationship with Kap,” he indicated, sarcastically blowing Kap a kiss.  “As for who my associates are, you have our good pal Hooch to thank for that,” he addressed Kap directly.

Kap looked startled.  “Hooch...?!?”

Jake nodded with another dark grin.  “Poor Hooch… while you had a crowd of friends around you after your surgery, he looked so helpless and alone in that hospital bed just down the hall.  He and I made some small talk, exchanged some information, I made a few phone calls… and voila! Instant goons,” he spread his arms wide expansively.  “He’s really popular back in his hood, did you know?  Hooch supplies me with an army, and all I had to do in return to let him know your girlfriend’s daily schedule.  He really wants to introduce his chick click to the person who put him in the hospital, feel me...?”

“How did you know it was Angel who got to Hooch?” Kap asked in spite of himself.

Jake bowed, the ruby sparkling brightly in the fouer’s light.  “We were waiting for you to get out of surgery, and I was bored… so I taped the girls when they were trying to explain to Marquis what happened to Hooch in code,” he replied proudly.  “I’m always taping and recording on my phone lately; you never know what you might pick up on video… or audio, in this instance,” he added, reaching into his jacket pocket and holding up his cellphone.  “Up til that moment, Hooch knew that you had a girl, but he just didn’t know anything about her.  He agreed to my terms after I fingered his attacker…”

Kap’s eyes reddened with fury, stepping forward.  “You sent a girl gang after Angel...?  If she’s hurt in ANY WAY…”

“Well, both your Angel and Carmen should have faced off with them, at least a few hours ago, back on campus; I hear that the girls from Hooch’s hood specialize in cutting a bitch.”  He sighed dramatically.  “I do hope the twins know better than to get involved…”

“The twins… Oh, my god…” Ranell gasped.  “My granddaughters did nothing to you, Mr. whoever-you-are.”

“Hold up- Tyra and Dani are your granddaughters…?  You mean to tell me that Marquis's got more cousins out there...?  And they’re already in his life, huh?” Jake asked with true amazement on his face.  “Small world… well, miss,” Jake said promptly, “you’d better hope Marquis's newfound cousins had cheer practice and stayed away from their suite-mates tonight…”

******

FOUR HOURS EARLIER….

Carmen and Angelina were sitting, heads buried in books, with the twins in the gazebo under the Berkeley Bell Tower, where they usually sat to study the evening before heavy exams like midterms or finals, when weather permitted, of course.  For one thing, the twilight carried most of the student body into either the student center or the campus library for some quality social time before retiring to the dorms.  Yet for the foursome, it was a nice, quiet respite from the social norm, yet studying under shadow of the Bell Tower couldn’t be more prosaic.

In response to their constant wish for a table area in the gazebo to accommodate their various books and subsequent munchies, the girls all chipped in and bought a small round table, which they propped up in the gazebo’s center, and on certain afternoons they could be seen, silently staring at books, outlining colors on pages… and in the place of honor on the small table, a large bag of nachos in which each one of the girls absently reached for every so often.  So engrossed and wrapped into their collective comfort zone that they were usually unaware of their surroundings, the comings and goings on outside of the gazebo; so a few extra shadows gathering around the area would be totally oblivious to the girls inside the setting…

A few moments after the sun had gone down, Angelina broke the silence, not bothering to lift her face from the paragragh she was reading in her Statistics 302 book.  “Think that will reading is still going on...?”

“Yeah,” Carmen replied in a half-whisper, turning the page on her Art History 3 textbook.   

“There’s a lot of things to work out, I guess.  Key figures that the whole pot together is worth several billion at least.”

“And poor Kap,” Angelina added, scratching the top of her head with the point of her pencil.  “He never wanted any part of ‘Key’s money, and now he’s getting some of his own now… he’s gonna choke on his own inheritance.”

“Wow, to have so much money that you can leave millions to a friend of the family,” Tyra mumbled, outlining yellow in her textbook.  “I can’t imagine.”

“We really need to research whether or not we are related to the Hill family of Seattle,” Danielle added quietly, typing away on her laptop.  “We might be the Compton branch...!”

“By way of the Bronx, eh...?” Angelina asked with a smile.

“Don’t worry about Dani,” Tyra smirked; “she just re-read Roots.  Family research is her thing right now.”

“Did you know,” Danielle interjected then, “that there are a few dozen websites dedicated to nothing more than finding long-lost relatives...?  Too bad I don’t have the dough in the bank, I’d sign up for one of these,” she sighed.

They all fell silent then, and as night deepened and the shadows closed in, none of the girls moved from their perches, except to reach for the nachos bag.  Angelina broke the silence again, not moving her eyes from her book.  “Carm, how many are there...?”

Carmen, also not moving from her place, replied without her eyes leaving her place on the page.  “Four behind you, six behind me, and spreading out to close us in.”

“Don’t move, anyone,” Angelina said then, soft in volume, yet with force: “act naturally.”

“What is it,” Danielle asked in a low yet urgent tone, not moving.

“A group of about ten girls, dressed in all black, have surrounded the gazebo,” Angelina commented casually as she slowly put her book back in the bag, as if she was simply shuffling her things about.  “I was expecting this.”

“Expecting what,” Tyra asked in a whisper.

“Payback for Hooch,” Angelina said with a small grimace; “it has to be.”

Tyra looked casually over at Angelina.  “I figured that you had something to do with that,” she whispered proudly.

“Looks like he sent his bitch-crew to handle me,” Angelina replied calmly.

“Think they have guns?” Tyra asked. I don’t like guns, that’s how my father died.

Angelina shook her head casually.  “Naw, this is personal.  They’ll want to get up in my face on this one… so its knives and boxcutters, probably.”

“You two stay behind us, and out of the way,” Carmen said then, adjusting the pencil in her hair.

Danielle smiled.  “Are you kidding...?  we can hang- for example, I never leave the dorm without my brass knuckles.”

“And I gots my own boxcutters, in pretty colors, even,” Tyra added sweetly.  “We must keep up with couture.”

Both Carmen and Angelina were amazed.  “You never told us that yall were streetfighters…!” Carmen said in quiet awe.

“How you think we got outta Compton...?  On our good grades...?” Danielle asked archly.

“Where we come from, you better know how to cut a bitch by the fourth grade, just so’s you get that rep,” Tyra added.  “They leave you alone after that, but once in a blue someone tries you.”

“Damn,” Angelina said with a small grin, “we had our own gang here and never knew it...!”

Just then the shadows around the gazebo started to gather closer.  Angelina placed her stuff down on the bench next to her and reached into her purse for two sets of blades that mirrored those she confronted Hooch with.  “Listen- yall ready?  On my count, drop what you’re doing and weapon up. “

******

PRESENT TIME

“..So, do you think your Angel survived meeting Hooch’s girl...?  I wonder…” Jake mused loudly.

Kap moved forward but hands grabbed him on each side, pulling him back as a half-dozen shotguns cocked towards his direction.  “Back it DOWN,” Malik cautioned as he restrained Kap on his left; Rahrah was on Kap’s right.

“When I can get to you, I’m really going to enjoy smashing my size 13’s in your pretty face.  Over and over,” Kap spat at Jake.

Jake sneered.  “Whatever… you know, instead of fighting with you, I should actually be thanking you… for without your stupidity, I wouldn’t be here right now, taking over the Hill family empire.”

“And just how did you manage this?” Lamar asked, obviously attempting to turn Jake’s attention from Kap…

…But it was to no good.  “Long story short- I used this,” Jake replied, picking up the ruby on his chest and letting it dangle from the chain.  The light in the foyer caught the ruby’s fire…

…and made Kap recognize it at last.  “Hey, that’s my medallion… ive been looking for it everywhere...!”

Jake looked completely amused at the look on Kap’s face this time.  “Really...?  Well while you were too dumb to realize how to use the power of this jewel, much less wear it, I did my research on the family Crest.  Once upon a time, Osirus Hill found a pirate treasure and decided to get the best bargainfor his buck, so he went to the seven world banks and after making a deal with each one, he split the treasure between them, equal shares… this started the Hill family Trust.  With interest gathering daily from each World bank, by the time he died the Trust had multiplied by millions and millions.  Osirus’s grandson, J. Mayson Hill, did not trust that the banks would continue to honor the handshake deal made decades before.  So J. Mayson Hill had two medallions made- one for himself, one for Joe- and then he went to the seven world banks and he arranged to have them all acknowledge the Hill family jewel as the ultimate ID.  The family Crest was verification on any and every transaction requested, no questions asked.  If the ruby was used to close the account, each bank would return their shares of the pirate treasure instantly, and in return the banks would retrieve their money from each of the official Hill family accounts- again, no questions asked.”

“You’re saying that my grandfather made the Hill family Trust into one large joint account for the whole family...?” Malik asked.

Jake nodded superiorly.  “In essence, yes… he was all about the quick getaway.  The problem was, he was so worried about what the seven world banks were going to pull, he left the terms of the deal too open; not too detailed a thinker, ol J. Mayson.  Joe became the patriarch of the clan, and started making Hill family medallions for everyone he called family, whether they were blood related or not- for example, Ms. Regine got one because she was his wife, and our dear Kap got one because he was an honorary nephew to Joe.  But Joe hadn’t figured that the deal with the banks still held as is; anyone with a Hill family ruby medallion could swipe the whole pie, whether they had proof of who they were or not.”

“Jake- you don’t know what its like to scrape and starve, having to scam to earn their way through life like I had to…. you grew up rich, so why feel the need to steal someone else’s money...?” Lionel asked with a frown.

“Simple- because I can,” Jake replied, folding his arms contemptuously.  “My grandfather is just as rich as the all-powerful Hill family, sure… but he wasn’t the one who left a stupid loophole in the deal with the World Banks as wide as the Grand Canyon…and so, now I own the Hill family Trust- you do realize that means I also own all that was bought directly from the Trust as well...”

“Malik- HT was bought by the Trust...!” Lamar looked over at Malik, who still restrained Kap.

“I know, I know….” Malik said, his face gone pale.

Jake smiled.  “So do I.  That means that HT is mine as well...!  I’ll allow you time to go home and pack- you should be gone from the property by sunset tomorrow; that should be more than fair, since you were nice to me when I came to visit,” he indicated towards Malik and Lamar.

Rahrah stepped forward, eyes intent on Jake.  “Listen, Jake- we don’t have much time for this. We have to get help.”

“What’s happened?  Did you stub your toe?” Jake smirked.  “You’re right, however- you don’t have much time.  If you aren’t out of Crimson Crest by sunrise, they start shooting.”

“Jake, please, this isn’t a joke.   Joe Hill set a trap and two people are trapped in a room in the West Wing.”

“Its true, Jake… the room is sealed shut, and we don’t know if there’s any air in there, or how long they’ll be able to breathe… my father’s in there; please, show some decency...!” Lamar pleaded.

“Oh, you’re talking about that trap Joe set to go off at midnight?  I know all about it,” Jake replied casually.

“What the-”

“I’ve already read the will, seen the video- and gotten hold of some other documents I found in the wall safe, and in Joe’s office at Olympia.  I know that he had a room here reinforced and set to permanently seal someone inside.  He was so focused on that, I don’t think he noticed the failsafe the workers wrote about, however.”

“What do you mean???” Lamar exclaimed.

Jake frowned.  “The failsafe- the exit panel where… oh, wait a moment.  This is too rich!”  he began to laugh.

“What now?” Malik spat.

“It’s the way you people keep handing me all the keys to your kingdom… its almost pathetic,” Jake uttered with tut-tutting at them.  “You don’t know how to set them free, do you?”

“Are you saying that you can get them out of there, Jake?” Rahrah asked.

“Well, now that I know you guys don’t know how yourselves, then yes, of course I can let your people out of that room, no problem…. Once you all sign over what leftover properties and bank accounts you have outside the Hill family Trust over to me.  Or else whomever is in that room gets to slowly starve to death…”

******

Danny, laying on the bed, stared at his former lover Trey in the candle’s gloom, completely surprised at the look of utter confidence on his sexy stubbled face.  “What do you mean, ‘now that we’re back together’,” he managed to splutter.  “Trey, that’s just not fair.  I cant just up and drop yet another one of your brothers just because you crooked your little finger at me, Trey...!  And another thing- you can’t presume just because I loved you so much way back when, that my feelings are still the same…!  I thought you were dead, remember; I had to learn to let you go, to move on…”  He tried to get a hold of his breath, which was suddenly erratic for some reason… and then he felt Trey’s fingers run down the side of his neck- which made him violently jump.  He turned to see his old lover’s face again- not Ray’s benign, gentle, safe smile, but Trey’s roguish grin that undressed you, caressed you... his body began to shake.

Trey, indeed, was smilling directly at Danny.  “You tellin me that you could back away from me, even knowing that I’m back from the dead, alive and well, even wit you knowing that my heart and my dick throbs HARD for you, partna...?  Only you.”  And with that he reached out and pulled Danny towards him.

Before Danny could blink, he was laying in Trey’s arms, smelling his male scent again… “Trey… “ Danny began helplessly.

And all of a sudden Trey was laying on top of Danny, and kissing him, a hot, thick, tongue filling Danny’s mouth and stroking his throat.  With the last of his resistance, Danny broke free of the kiss, though he hungered for more…

“I ache for you to be in my arms, Danny-boy,” Trey panted… “I’ve missed you so much…” his hands roamed Danny’s prone body, each finger a dynamo of passion that ran shivers through Danny’s body.  “GOD, you don’t know how much I wanna make love to you right now,” Trey went on, showering Danny’s face with kisses…  “C’mon, partna- look at my dick, I aint never seen it so stiff, so thirsty for your deep, hot ass hole, baby…”

Against his will, Danny looked down- and gasped in amazement.  Both he and Trey were butt-ass naked, bodies entertwined with male heat.  Trey had literally sweet-talked him right out of his clothes… and Trey’s massive foot-long dick, flared mushroom head, just the same size as his twin’s, and yet somehow it seemed more massive, more.. tasty-

“No, Trey…” Danny gasped.

But Trey’s eyes bore into his own with a fire Danny knew he had never known with anyone else but the man straddling him now.  “Tell me you don’t love me.  Right now, it’s the only way I’ll back off.  Say it- and I’ll leave you alone- but you gotta look me in the face…”

Danny’s 9 inch was stiffer than it had been since Trey was lost to him.  Yet he made a massive effort to face Trey, to tell him once and for all to let him go… but he got lost in Trey’s eyes….

Meanwhile, Trey’s hands were everywhere.  “Ahhhh, baby…. You can’t escape me.  You belong to me, and I belong to you, just like 13 years ago, the first time we met, just like 50 years from now when we die in each other’s arms… you are MINE.”

The last of Danny’s defenses broke.  “Ohhhh, ahhhhh, oh, YES, YESSSSS Trey.. I do love you, I want you, I missed you too…” and he grabbed Trey around the neck and pulled him close, tears of happiness raining down his face.

Trey pulled their bodies slap against each other, full-mast dicks struggling against each other as Trey’s lips found Danny’s again.  The kiss this time made Danny swoon with lust.  Trey grabbed him up, moaning again and again words Danny couldn’t hear.  They wrestled around the bed in a hot meld of manflesh until Danny realized that he was laying full underneath Trey, legs spread-eagled missionary style.

It was Trey who broke off the kiss.  “Is this okay...?” he panted, chest heaving, hands stretching out to help spread Danny’s legs even farther out as he slid down to position his flared dickhead against Danny’s back door.  “You gotta stop me right now, partna- or you takin all this dick right now…!”

But with Danny, all hesitation was now gone.  Trey was back… Trey WAS BACK….!!!  “Do it,” Danny howled, arching his back and gasping.  “DO IT…!”

With a spasmodic groan, Trey sank his throbbing 12-inch veiny, brick hard dick deep into Danny’s aching hole- down to the base.

Danny bucked with some pain, some shock, some pleasure… and Trey‘s hands came over him and fell upon his arms, pinning him down to the bed as Trey began to grind and thrust his phat dick into that dark, tight warmth, like a tight glove dipped in hot butter.  Trey moaned in ecstasy at the feel of his whole dick swallowed deep. 

Each thrust into Danny felt like a burst of pleasure.  The years fell away and Trey and he were back in his car that first night, squirming and rolling about in the front seat like two crazy teenagers in love.  Feeling totally pinned down by Trey, his legs stretched wide into the air, feeling that hot piston enveloped in black man silk like a secret invasion of that deep spot inside a man, that made Danny’s knees weak as he stretched them wider, sweat running down his chest to hit the sheets, bucking his waist to meet that heavy dick in-thrust, feeling Trey’s heavy, hairy golf-ball sized nutts banging against his lower cheeks in a smash-rhythm between them which drove Danny to the brink of desire-

Trey, however, was moaning with each push, louder than Danny’s groans- Danny instinctively knew that Trey had missed every moment they had spent apart, in agony for his sake.  He held on tighter to Trey’s heaving, rolling, sweat-covered body…

But Trey, lost in his churning into Danny’s ass-grip, was already far gone.  Danny felt Trey start to shake and spasm, and a hot wetness flooded his guts-

Skeet-skeet-skeet-

Trey lost it.  “AARRRGGGGHHHHHH,” he cried out-

(Skeet-skeet-skeeeeeeeeeeet-)

Wave after wave flooded Danny as he bust off his nutt-

“YYYYYEEEEAAAAHHHHHH,” he cried as his dick jerked and flew about, heavey hot ropes of pearly nutt splattering across Danny’s chest, Trey’s chest, chin…

(Skeet-skeet-skeet/splash-splatter-)

…and then it was done, and Trey collapsed on top of Danny’s chest both men drenched in sweat and nutt, heaving and gasping for air.  Trey had left his still-swollen dick inside Danny’s clenched ass, and it absently jerked itself, milking the last of its man-juice into that dark muskiness.

“I-I-I cant believe it,” Trey said with a shudder… “it was better than I dreamed it would be… Partna, you’re mine again, for life this time.”

Danny only nodded, burrowing his head into Trey’s shoulder as he managed to pull the threadbare coverlet over their naked bodies, and they lay this way for a few moments, holding each other in the resilient silence of their afterglow.

After some time Trey leaned in and kissed Danny on the lips.  “How’re you feeling...?” he asked, low and sexy.

Danny considered this as he stretched underneath Trey’s body.  “Alive, for the first time since you died….” He smiled with contentment.

Trey returned that smile with one of his own.  “Well, I’m not dying again anytime soon, so this time its forever for us, baby…”

“Well, I guess you’re right, seeing as though we’ve already been buried in our own tomb…” Danny replied then with a frown, recalling attention to their predicament.

Trey kissed Danny again.  “Don’t fret, sweetness; my son won’t let up until he breaks through these walls.”

Danny looked at Trey with some approval.  “I can’t believe you still have so much faith in Robbie; you always have.  He’s grown into earning that blind faith.”

Trey remained confident.  “He’ll come for us; all we have to do is stay alive until he breaks us out.”

Danny nodded, burrowing into Trey and closing his eyes.  “I guess I can understand your confidence then… by the way, I have a confession.”

“Do tell, Danny-boy…” Trey replied with a yawn, holding Danny as if he dared any power on earth to try taking him away again.

“I lied earlier… I’ve never stopped loving you, ever.”

“The way we always felt for each other, there was no way you ever could,” replied Trey sleepily.

******

The crowd of Hill family, friends and servants stared in ghastly shock at Jake.  “Are you serious?” Regine asked in awe.  “How can you be this cruel?  You’re giving Joe a run for his money…” she added, shaking her head.

“Jake, you already have most of our money… what else is this about?” RahRah asked.

“I was wondering if someone would get around to asking me that,” Jake replied with an arch look, absently twisting the Hill family Crest around his finger.  “It’s really all about about revenge.  Revenge against the high and mighty Hill family… you, with your money and power and your self-indulgences… you all strut about like you can do whatever the hell you want, to whomever you want, and to the devil how the rest of the world might feel...!!!”

“Now you listen up,” Regine replied sternly, “we know you’re Jackie Stevens’ boy, and how you’re related to Marquis.  Is this what this is all about, that Marquis got one extra silver spoon than you did...?”

Jake seemed truly surprised at Regine’s knowledge.  “So you know about me and cousin Marquis, huh...?  You’re getting warm, you old battleaxe…”

“Hey-HEY!  Watch your mouth when you speak to my mother, “ Malik growled, stepping forward as several guns swung to focus on him.  Lamar reached over and pulled him back.

Jake grinned at Regine.  “Pardon me.  As I was saying, you’re getting warm.  Anyone else...?”

No one had anything else to say.

“No?”  Jake frowned.  “Okay then.  This isn’t just about taking all you have away from you.  You two, and you- front and center, please,” he indicated to Malik, Lamar and RahRah.

Slowly the three extricated themselves from the others and came forward to stand before the group of thugs and Jake.  “What is this?” Lamar asked.

“You three- musketeers, who shared everything when you were kids… at one time or another you all raised cousin Marquis, pampered him, gave him any and everything he wanted- multiplied by billions by the time you two took over,” he spat at Malik and Lamar; “Who is he, that he gets to have all three of you?  Meanwhile, I was raised by a single woman, who chose a career over her own son.  Nannies and valets to tuck me in at night, never who it was supposed to be, never who I wanted…”

Malik, Lamar and RahRah all looked at each other- and then looked back at Jake.

“Which one of you three sons of bitches… is my father...?”