Nicole
1720 Words
The moment Nicole told me Tony had mentioned Terrance before the shooting, my mind refused to let it go.
I sat beside her hospital bed staring at the floor.
None of it made sense.
Tony was dead.
The police had already labeled the case a murder-suicide.
As far as everyone else was concerned, the story was over.
But every instinct in my body told me it wasn't.
Nicole shifted uncomfortably in the hospital bed.
"Lex?"
I looked up.
"You okay?"
"No."
She managed a weak laugh.
"Me neither."
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then she looked away.
"There are things you don't know."
My stomach tightened.
"What things?"
Tears immediately formed in her eyes.
"Everything."
I reached for her hand.
"What are you talking about?"
Nicole stared out the window before finally speaking.
"You always asked me why I canceled plans."
I nodded.
"You always asked why I disappeared for days."
Another nod.
"I lied every time."
The room became silent.
Then, for the next hour, Nicole told me everything.
The abuse.
The threats.
The bruises.
The nights she spent crying herself to sleep.
The cigarette burns.
The belt around her neck.
The years she spent believing she somehow deserved it.
By the time she finished talking, I was furious.
Not at her.
At myself.
How had I not seen it?
How had I missed all the signs?
"You couldn't have known," she whispered as if reading my thoughts.
"I should have."
"No."
I looked at her.
"No one knew. I made sure of that."
I squeezed her hand.
"You should've told me."
"I was ashamed."
Those words broke my heart.
Because I knew Nicole.
She was strong.
Beautiful.
Funny.
Confident.
Or at least she used to be.
Tony had spent years tearing her down piece by piece.
Until she barely recognized herself.
Then she told me about the skillet.
And despite everything, I couldn't help laughing.
"You beat his ass with a frying pan?"
A small smile appeared on her face.
"Skillet."
"Same difference."
"I was tired of being scared."
The smile disappeared.
"I think that was the moment he snapped."
I thought about that.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe losing control over her was something Tony couldn't handle.
But something still bothered me.
"If he planned on killing you," I asked quietly, "why leave first?"
Nicole frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"After you broke up with him."
"He left to cool off."
"Exactly."
I stood and began pacing.
"If Tony was planning this all day, why leave? Why not do it right then?"
Nicole didn't answer.
Because she didn't know either.
And honestly, neither did I.
The more I thought about it, the less it felt like a crime of passion.
It felt like something else.
Something planned.
Something bigger.
Before I could continue, a knock came at the hospital door.
The moment it opened, Nicole smiled.
Terrance stepped inside carrying flowers.
I immediately felt heat creep into my cheeks.
Which annoyed me.
Because apparently my body had decided it was going to react every time this man entered a room.
Terrance handed the flowers to Nicole.
"Glad to see you're still alive."
Nicole laughed.
"Barely."
"I heard you're hard-headed."
"That's what saved me."
The three of us talked for a while.
Mostly normal conversation.
For the first time since the shooting, things almost felt normal.
Almost.
Then a nurse entered.
"Visiting hours are ending."
Terrance nodded.
"I'll walk Lexi out."
The second we left Nicole's room, my heart started doing stupid things.
I hated that.
Terrance was exactly the kind of man I promised myself to avoid.
Too attractive.
Too confident.
Too much attention from women.
Too much drama.
Yet every time he was around, I found myself wanting to know more.
We walked through the parking garage in silence.
The sun had already set.
Most of the garage sat in the shadows.
Something about it felt unsettling.
The same feeling I'd been having for days.
When we reached my car, Terrance suddenly stopped walking.
"What?"
He looked around.
"Someone's watching."
I laughed nervously.
"What?"
"I'm serious."
His eyes scanned the parking garage.
I followed his gaze but saw nothing.
"Terrance—"
Then he grabbed my arm.
A dark SUV slowly rolled past us.
Its windows were heavily tinted.
The vehicle moved slowly enough to make me uncomfortable.
Neither of us spoke until it disappeared around the corner.
"Do you know them?" I asked.
"No."
His answer came too fast.
I narrowed my eyes.
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
But something in his expression told me otherwise.
Before I could question him further, he changed the subject.
"You should be careful."
"Why?"
"Just trust me."
I crossed my arms.
"No. Tell me why."
For a moment he looked like he wanted to say something.
Then he shook his head.
"Forget it."
I watched him walk away.
The entire exchange left me feeling uneasy.
Because, for the first time since meeting Terrance, I caught him lying.
And I knew it.
Two nights later I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw blood.
Nicole's blood.
Tony's blood.
The fear in Nicole's eyes.
The sound of gunshots.
Everything kept replaying.
Finally, around midnight, I gave up and sat on my porch.
The neighborhood was unusually quiet.
A warm breeze drifted through the street.
For a while, I simply sat there thinking.
Then I noticed something.
Across the street.
Parked beneath a broken streetlight.
A black SUV.
The same black SUV from the hospital.
My stomach dropped.
The windows were too dark to see inside.
The engine was running.
Whoever was inside wasn't moving.
They were just sitting there.
Watching.
I immediately pulled out my phone.
Without even thinking, I called Terrance.
He answered on the second ring.
"Lexi?"
His voice sounded alert.
Like he hadn't been sleeping.
"There's a black SUV outside."
Silence.
Then—
"Don't go outside."
My heart started pounding.
"You know who it is."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
"Stay inside," he repeated.
"Terrance."
No answer.
"Terrance, tell me what's going on."
When he finally spoke, his voice sounded different.
Serious.
Almost afraid.
"Remember when Nicole said Tony mentioned my name?"
"Yeah."
"I think it's time I tell you why."
The SUV remained parked outside.
Watching.
Waiting.
And for the first time, I realized whatever mystery Tony had been involved in wasn't over.
In fact, it was just beginning.
And somehow, Terrance was standing right in the middle of it.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Terrance's voice came through my phone low and serious.
"Remember when Nicole said Tony mentioned my name?"
I stood frozen in my living room, staring through the blinds at the black SUV parked across the street.
"Yeah."
The vehicle remained motionless.
Watching.
Waiting.
My stomach twisted.
"Terrance, who are they?"
There was a long pause.
Long enough to make me wonder if he was debating how much to tell me.
Finally, he sighed.
"Come inside and lock your doors."
"I am inside."
"Good."
"Now answer my question."
More silence.
Then—
"Lexi, there's a lot about me people think they know."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means most of what people think they know about me is bullshit."
I glanced back toward the SUV.
"Then tell me the truth."
For a moment all I heard was his breathing.
"The truth is complicated."
I laughed nervously.
"Try me."
Another pause.
Then Terrance started talking.
And what he told me changed everything.
Terrance
People in this neighborhood think they know me.
Hell, some of them think I'm some kind of street celebrity.
The flashy truck.
The money.
The reputation.
The rumors.
The women.
The respect.
What they don't know is most of it is a façade.
A carefully crafted illusion.
The real power never belonged to me.
It belonged to my brother.
Always has.
My father ran these streets before either of us were old enough to understand what that meant.
People feared him.
Respected him.
Followed him.
Until one day someone he considered family put a bullet in him.
The crazy part wasn't that he was murdered.
The crazy part was who did it.
His best friend.
A man who had eaten at our table.
A man who called my father brother.
A man who carried years of jealousy and resentment until it finally exploded.
Before my brother and I could get revenge, the police locked him up for life.
After that, my brother stepped into my father's shoes.
He became king.
I became the face.
Most people never understood the difference.
And I let them keep believing whatever they wanted.
The less people knew, the better.
The streets taught me one thing early.
Knowledge gets people killed.
My brother understood that better than anyone.
Which was why nobody knew where anything important was kept.
No stash houses.
No money.
No operations.
Nothing connected back to us.
The police raided places connected to me more than once.
They never found anything.
Not because they weren't looking.
Because there wasn't anything there.
Eventually they stopped finding reasons to kick down doors.
What they didn't know was I hated every minute of it.
I never wanted this life.
I wanted college.
I wanted degrees.
I wanted something different.
Applied Behavioral Science fascinated me.
Human behavior fascinated me.
I wanted to understand why people did the things they did.
Why did they love?
Why did they hate?
Why did they betray each other?
Maybe because betrayal destroyed my family.
Or maybe because I wanted to avoid becoming another casualty of the streets.
Either way, I wanted out.
But wanting out and actually getting out were two different things.
Then the snitch situation happened.
A guy working for us got arrested carrying enough drugs to guarantee decades behind bars.
To save himself, he started talking.
Started naming names.
Started pointing fingers.
My brother received word before the police could move.
A few nights later, the problem disappeared.
Then so did my brother.
At least that's what everyone thought.
The truth was much smarter than that.
My brother altered his appearance.
Changed everything.
Hair.
Facial hair.
Weight.
Style.
Even the way he walked.
The police searched for a ghost while he remained right under their noses.
Meanwhile, everyone kept looking at me.
The visible one.
The recognizable one.
The distraction.
Exactly how my brother wanted it.
- Writer
