Half Of Rhea

The Revelations

Mr Pomare sat at his desk in his office, a blank look on his face. His Vice-President Logan and one of his prospects sat opposite him. The younger gentleman a little nervous, avoiding his intense gaze.

“So… you are telling me that you have yet to find Mr Thomas, and now not only are we, looking for him, but the police are too, and they are asking us, where his last known whereabouts were, as he was last seen in the company of our people?” Pomare directed the question at his subject.

“Yeah Pres, but he was never with us, or any of the boys, so I told the pig we were looking for him too.” The skinny, prospect replied hesitantly.

“Oh… So now they know we are looking for Zane-f*****g-Thomas as well?” The boss’s anger rising to the surface. Logan watched Dean next to him, dig himself into a further hole. Shaking his head internally, he let the i***t carry on trying to explain, obviously not taking the hint that their President was about to lose his s**t.

“Oh crap yeah, I guess so… You know I have a big mouth when I get nervous.” He shrugged his shoulders towards the boss and looked towards the Vice-President to back him up.

“And what part of, we don’t speak to pigs, do you not seem to understand?” His question drawled out slowly and the young Dean finally realised that not only had he said too much, but he was now in serious trouble.

“Sorry boss, it won’t happen again, the police are looking for Thomas because apparently, they think he gave his Baby-Ma a hiding and nearly killed her.” Frantically trying to explain the situation, Dean looked from Logan back to Pomare.

“Logan…” Pomare waved his hand at his most trusted friend and second in command. Without saying anything else, the tall man with the beard swung his huge arm backwards and delivered a bone-crunching blow straight to Dean’s temple. The force made the young man go flying off his chair sideways. Completely knocked out.

“For f***s sake Logan, these f*****g i***t-kids don’t know the f*****g rules.” Pomare closed his eyes, leaving Dean lying on the floor completely unconscious, they just ignored his presence.

“My apologies boss, I’ll sort this out. I took this i***t here with me to find Thomas, we met the mother of his son. She told us he wasn’t living there and we watched the house for a week, he never showed.”

“What do I care about one of Zane’s little crack whores? She better not open her mouth and let’s hope the police just let it go. If she knows what’s good for her, she will keep her mouth shut.” Pomare looked furious and unimpressed at this point.

“That’s the thing boss, she’s not one of his crack-whores. From what we’ve seen, she literally looks after her son, exercises and stays at home. She’s an innocent in this and seems to be completely unaware of his drug use and debt.” Logan was quite interested in Rhea. In the days following their visit, he had sat watching her. She had left an impression on him and wasn’t like the usual gang bitches they had in their company. Her bright, innocent, aquamarine eyes were an image he just couldn’t seem to shake from his memory. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“Well if that’s true, then the police won’t let this go. Damn it! Why couldn’t he just f**k up one of his stupid w***e’s? What a f*****g mess. The last thing we need is to find Thomas and not be able to deal with him because the police have him as a potential suspect in the assault of an innocent lady. We don’t want him missing on our turf or become embroiled in a pig investigation.” The President was now in a difficult position. Unsure of whether to pursue the man or leave him to the police.

“Yeah, I know boss. It is a mess.” Logan was unsure of what the boss was thinking at this time. He had known Pomare, most of his life. He was an unforgiving man, born on the streets, toughened by an abusive father and non-existent mother. But he also had strong morals, you don’t hurt women or kids, and this is what set their chapter apart from the others. This was one of the reasons Logan had followed his boss and best friend so loyally over the years.

“Look for him, find him, I want you to take care of this personally. What he stole is of too much value to let go. I don’t need the f*****g Chinese on my back, for an unpaid shipment. I want to be able to retrieve as much as possible. Even the heaviest crack user couldn’t smoke that much in a lifetime. Our product hasn’t come up on the street, so we know he’s not selling any of it. I want my property back and if he won’t give it back… We will kill him, if he does, we will hand him over to the pigs, but I want him before the pigs find his sorry ass.” Pomare had reached a decision.

Logan nodded at his boss, “what do we do about him?” he pointed to Dean, still lying on the floor, but this time awake. He hadn’t moved from the spot but had heard the conversation that took place.

“Please Pres, I’ll help, I’ll make up for my mistake.” Dean pleaded with his boss, as he sat up, trying to restore some of his dignity. He, like all of the other men that followed Pomare, deeply respected him and was ashamed he had disappointed the man he looked at as a father figure.

“Granted. You f**k up again, you’re out.”

Dean quickly stood and bowed slightly to his boss, “Thankyou Pres, I won’t let you down again.”

~

A week had passed, Rhea remained under heavy sedation at the hospital. Sage and Tarns alternated who watched over Rhea, while she remained in a medically induced coma. Both women refused to leave her side for fear Zane would come to finish the job. The whereabouts of Zane was unknown according to the police investigating the attack, there was little to no evidence of his involvement in the brutal assault. Although they knew better and were a hundred per cent convinced of Zane’s guilt, the detective needed concrete evidence, until Rhea woke up, they had to just wait patiently.

There was a knock on the little room’s door, it opened to reveal two handsome men. One was tall and thin with fine features and a slightly darker complexion to the second man. He was broader in the shoulders but just as good looking as the first. When the first man saw his sister lying on the bed, he ran over to her and sat down, tears forming in his eyes, he was shocked at all the machines and extent of bruises on her face.

“Holy fuck.” The second man followed after him and placed his hand on the first’s shoulder.

It wasn’t until Sage stood, that they noticed she had been sitting in the corner of the room. The brother standing up turned towards her and walked over to introduce himself.

“Hi, I’m Damon, this is Tyrell. We are Rhea’s younger brothers.” He kissed Sage on the side of her cheek and moved aside so she could greet Tyrell who remained tearfully sitting by Rhea.

“Oh, I’m sorry I just can’t believe it,” Tyrell hugged Sage and wiped his nose on a tissue.

“She looks so f*****g awful….” He carried on speaking to the two of them, “She rang me, we laughed, I joked that she might be pregnant, but I had no idea it was true, I don’t even think she had thought about it… And now!... Now she’s lost her baby… My poor sister. Does she even know? Has she woken up yet?” His hands were flying around the space. Sage recognised that same feeling of hopelessness and desperation that she had felt for her friend.

“No, the doctors have had to keep her sedated to allow the swelling on her brain to go down. No-one is sure what kind of long-lasting effects there might be from the attack.” She looked down, hating the fact that she had to deliver such terrible news to Rhea’s family. But like so many people, friends, family and police, she felt it was her duty to be the person, to give the same news and information to everyone so that no one was misinformed.

“You wait… When I get my hands on the cunt that did this.” Damon had fury in his eyes. Sage then told them everything she had known, how they believe it was Zane but had no proof. She didn’t divulge the s****l assault as she wanted Rhea to have the opportunity to tell her story to the people she trusted. Tyrell and Damon then settled into the routine, relieving some of the pressure and responsibility over the following week. It finally allowed Sage to spend time with her kids and Tarns was able to hit the gym again, their combined trust in Rhea’s brothers calmed their worries for her safety.

The family and friends had taken over Rhea’s house, transforming it into a warm, friendly, bustling space. Laken loved having all these people who took care of him and fed him amazingly delicious food whenever he asked for it. His Uncles were staying with him and had bought him new clothes and re-enrolled him in kindergarten to try and give him a sense of normality. He was happy his life had slightly gone back to normal, but his heart was sad every time he thought about his mum. Every day they would take him to see her, but she never opened her eyes. He told her about his day and explained the paintings he took to decorate her room so that when she woke, she would know, he had missed her every single day.

“And this one mama…. This is a picture of you, me and Bully.”

“Pass it here neph, I’ll pin it to the wall.” Uncle Damon then took it from him and added it to the growing gallery in her room. Laken was so sidetracked with picking another picture to talk about, that he didn’t see his mum open her eyes.

“Well, that has to be the best wall I’ve ever seen.” Rhea croaked out the words, her throat and mouth unbelievably dry, to the point she struggled to get the words out.

Everyone stopped and looked at her, Sage, Tyrell, Damon and Tarns stood staring for a few seconds, registering the fact that she was awake. It was Laken who yelled first.

“MAMA! MAMA! I missed you!” his yelling seemed to break the spell as he rushed to jump up and next to Rhea’s side. Tyrell ran out of the room, screaming for a nurse. Damon sat down in the chair, completely taken aback.

“Well thank f**k you woke up sis.” He breathed out, relieved.

Sage and Tarns were by her side in an instant, she turned to face her two beautiful friends. Sage was crying already, even Tarns had tears in her eyes.

“I must look that bad ay?” She tried making a joke, the three of them giggled, they both grabbed her good hand, looking down at their friend.

“You gave us a hell of a fright Rhea-rhea.” Tarns said, overwhelmed by emotion.

“f**k I missed you mate…. Are you okay?” Sage grabbed water, Rhea was able to sip it through a straw and then helped her sit up slightly using the mechanisms of the electric bed. Rhea winced but wanted so desperately to sit up and face her loved ones.

She looked down at Laken, who was sitting crying, snuggling into his mum’s side, hiding from everyone else.

“My sonson, are you okay?” Rhea lifted his chin delicately with her sore hand, he looked up at her eyes and nodded, no words could express how any of them felt, so they just held hands and hugged very gently. Tyrell had come back in with nurses, who had to fight with Laken to try and get him off the bed, in the end giving up because there was no way that boy was leaving his mother’s side without a decent scrap.

“Indulge him… Please.” Rhea begged they all nodded, letting him stay right where he wanted to be.

Everyone stood around waiting for nurses to run their basic checks, the doctor came in enquiring about Rhea’s level of pain. She had a blinding headache and so many aches she couldn’t name them all, she just gave an 8 out of 10 for pain level. They then upped her morphine, which gave her instant relief. After the medical personnel left, she turned to the four most important adults in the room. She couldn’t believe her two handsome, extremely protective brothers were there too. She had briefly hugged and kissed them, but she wanted to get through the nitty-gritty details so she could enjoy their company. She was almost afraid to ask, but she knew she had to.

“What happened?”

The looks she received in return were worrying. They all held expressions of sadness and pity. Sage took it upon herself to engage the conversation.

“What do you remember?”

“Hmmm we were packing, I was leaving, that’s it…” Rhea kept searching their faces for any clues in their expressions, but they weren’t giving anything away.

“You were attacked Rhea-rhea, someone brutally attacked you after we left. Do you remember who it was?”

“No… I don’t remember anything.” She started feeling overwhelmed, knowing that the next question would be the hardest.

“Is my baby okay?” She gulped, the lump in her throat threatened to push out tears, but she already knew deep down what the answer was. This was clearly written over every face in the room. Sage and Tarns moved closer to one side, her brothers on the other.

“I’m so sorry friend, the baby didn’t make it.” Sage was the only one to answer the question.

She moved her hand to hover over her abdomen, looking down she felt sad and empty. She then wrapped her other arm tighter around her son. She ignored the pain of the cast and bought his hair closer to her face, sniffing it deeply. She closed her eyes and felt her consciousness fading, back off to sleep.