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.....

"We caught these three tryna escape out the back. They the last ones left," O'Shea said clutching his side.

"You good?" D asked him.

"One of them bitches shot at me. Their aim is piss poor so the bullet only grazed my side, but that shit still hurt," he grumbled in annoyance.

Dashawn nodded and turned his attention to the three remaining niggas in the room. He took his time sizing each of them up as they tried not to make eye contact with him. "Which one of you is Red?" D asked even though he knew no one would answer.

Red didn't know what to do besides keep his mouth shut and try to act as harmless as possible. He was hoping that he could somehow play ignorant and keep his identity a secret. And if given the chance, he would gladly take a quick bullet to the head before he fixed his mouth to confess his sins. He, by all means, wanted to avoid the slow torturous death that Dashawn was known to give his victims.

"The reinforcements are here," Tony spoke up.

"Good. This will only take a few minutes, and then we're done here." Dashawn had already established that Red was one scary ass nigga, so he was certain that this little interrogation wouldn't last long.

"Also, call the cleanup crew and sweep this place clean."

Tony went to go make the call while D continued to eye the room. He made sure to put some heat into his gaze as he observed their postures and the way their chests rose and fell—whether or not they took shallow or deep breaths. And more importantly, Dashawn was trying to pick up on any nervous tics that any of them might have.

"Last chance," D said. He was trying his best to stay calm and hold himself back, but it was hard. The only thing keeping him from going into a fit of rage was the notion that he didn't want to act too brash and jeopardize his chances of finding Imani.

Pushing up off the wall, D grabbed the first object he could find. It was a random pencil, and it was blunt as hell, but it would do. He then strolled up to the one that he was almost a hundred percent certain wasn't Red. The dude glanced up right as Dashawn grabbed his head, pulled back, and plunged the pencil into his neck. The nigga howled in pain, but Dashawn covered his mouth to silence some of the noise. "Shhhh, relax before I really give you something to cry about."

"I'm not—"

"I know," D said pulling out his gun and shooting the dude in the head.

Red could hear the whole exchange happening just a few feet away from him. When he heard the gunshot, he accidentally made the mistake of flinching just the tiniest bit, causing Dashawn to pick up on the small movement. He quickly tried to calm his nerves, but it was already too late. Panicked, Red just barely lifted his eyes to make sure that no one saw the stutter in his movements, but when he did so, he accidentally locked eyes with Dashawn.

"You," Dashawn sneered in disgust, letting his first victim hit the ground. Dread filled every ounce of Red's body as he tried to act indifferent about the fact that he had just fucked up. But, the closer D got, the more his resolve faded and he ended up scurrying back against the wall.

"Look, I didn't know she was your kid," he blurted out.

"Damn, you one predictable ass nigga." D shot the second dude in the head, then grabbed Red and dragged his body up the wall until he was standing on his feet.

"Where is she?" D asked, pinning Red's body to the wall.

"I don't—"

"Where is she?" D asked again, getting all up in his face this time.

"Look, D we can work this out. I—"

"Nigga you don't know me."

"No, not like that, but we did business together years ago when I was just startin' out. You might not remember me, but we met back when I was struggling, and you helped me make a name for myself," Red rushed out. Dashawn narrowed his eyes, somewhat recognizing Red, but something was off.

"I used to go by the name Quincy," he said. And it took a second, but everything started to make sense.

Dashawn frowned as he could now recall the first time he met Red, aka Quincy. It was some years ago when Quincy first came to Dashawn looking for a job—as many niggas do. At first, Dashawn said no, but he eventually caved and took Quincy under his wing for a few weeks and showed him how to run a business. When Quincy was satisfied with the knowledge he had gained, he started doing his own thing. And that was the extent of their brief history.

Dashawn seemed to have calmed down a bit, so Red relaxed some. And with Red being the dumb fuck that he was, he thought he could take the opportunity to try and clear his name.

"I didn't know that I was helping to kidnap your daughter. I just thought I was doing some random bitch a favor in exchange for some pussy. Kennedy played me, she came to me for help saying that she had heard my name on the streets. And she negotiated some big ass money that I couldn't turn down."

"What was the favor?" Dashawn asked. Red was hesitant to reveal what he and Kennedy had done, so he kept his mouth shut.

"This is my last time asking, and you better not lie. What did you and that dumb bitch do with my child?"

"D, I didn't know—"

"Where is she!" Dashawn pressed the barrel of his gun into Red's neck. Red took a shaky breath, damn near on the verge of tears. He knew that there was no coming back from this, so he confessed anyway.

"We sold her," he whispered.

Silence...

Only silence could be heard around the room as everyone seemed to have stopped breathing. It took Dashawn a whole minute to even process what Red had just said.

"You sold her?" He couldn't help the crack in his voice.

"I'm sorry man. I'm so sorry, but she was worth a lot," Red confessed. And a rage like no other took over Dashawn. He then slammed Red to the ground and unleashed all of his anger on him. Red tried to defend himself, but he got knocked out within the first few hits.

"D—" Tony tried calling out to him, but Dashawn wouldn't listen. He just kept going until he heard the familiar cracks of bones. He kept going at the mere thought of Imani in any type of pain. He kept going until the skin on his own knuckles grew raw and ripped off due to the impact of each blow. And Dashawn kept going until Red's face was disfigured beyond recognition.

Those that could stomach to watch, watched in complete silence as Dashawn lost himself to the violence. No one would dare try to stop him, but the more blows he landed, the closer Red was to meeting his death, and they needed to find Imani's exact location before that happened.

"D, stop!!"

Dashawn stopped mid-swing—not because Tony told him to, but because his fingers were now numb and he couldn't feel them anymore.

"Fuck," Tony cursed as Dashawn then checked Red's pulse.

"Relax nigga, he's still alive," Dashawn said staggering to his feet. "And since you so damn worried, wake his ass up. I need to find my daughter."

A few people rushed forward and lifted Red up and dragged his body out the house. Dashawn passed the cleanup crew on his way out, and he also saw the rest of his people waiting patiently outside.

"Where is London?" He asked.

"I'm here," she spoke up.

"You're coming with me. Also Tony, Deebo, O'Shea, Penny, and Chance. The rest can go back to the warehouse." At Dashawn's request, they all left, disappearing as if they were never there to begin with.

Deebo got in the driver's seat and Tony in the passenger's. O'Shea, London, and Dashawn took the middle row while chance and Penny were in the backseat. Red was thrown on the floor between the seats, at Dashawn's feet. When they were all situated, Deebo drove off.

"Where to?" Deebo asked. Dashawn turned his attention to Red as London desperately tried to wake him up.

"I got something for his ass," O'Shea said, unzipping his pants. And while he was still in his seated position, he proceeded to aim his dick at Red, peeing on his lifeless body. Dashawn was slightly annoyed, but if he had to smell O'Shea's nasty ass piss to get what he wanted, then so be it. He did give O'Shea some credit though—his aim was top-tier.

O'Shea zipped his pants back up once Red started to groan in pain. "Welcome back," Dashawn sneered.

"Now tell me who you sold my daughter to. I need a name and an address." Red tried to talk, but he couldn't move his mouth because his jaw was broken. Not to mention, his whole face was swollen shut, so they ended up giving him something to write on instead. Dashawn could barely read Red's handwriting, but when he said the information out loud, Red nodded to confirm it. Deebo put the address in his phone, and it read Memphis, Tennessee.

"I hope for your sake that she is still alive," Dashawn mumbled, but Red was already out cold again.

.....

Almost six hours later they pulled up at this run-down motel in the middle of nowhere. Dashawn did a quick sweep with his eyes, and the first thing he noticed was the male clerk at the front desk.

"White male, late fifties maybe," Dashawn said. Deebo pulled the truck off to the side and cut the engine.

"Penny, can you handle this?"

"Of course," she responded back. And despite her distaste for men, they seemed to rather love her—especially the old ones.

"Go ahead," D said. She did as she was told, quickly getting out of the car and making her way to the front office. Penny tried the door first, but it was locked. She then knocked on it to get the man's attention. He looked up from his desk and pointed to the sign on the door that read, closed, in big bold letters.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you but my boyfriend kicked me out and I have no where else to go. Do you by chance have an extra room available?" She asked.

"Read the sign girlie, we're closed." Penny had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.

"I know, but I'd rather not wander the streets for the rest of the morning." The man ignored her.

"Please," she summoned the most bullshit ass damsel in distress performance of her life.

"I'll do anything." She made sure to put an emphasis on the anything, suggesting that she would go as far as to perform sexual acts with him, or on him.

Now intrigued by Penny's offer, the clerk finally regarded her from his position behind his desk. When he began to make his way over to her, she smiled shamelessly to herself.

"Thank you," Penny whispered, rushing inside as he opened the door. She took a quick look around the filthy room. It smelled of mold, sweat, and dirty balls.

"You a hooker? I like to get down with those...especially the sexy Black ones." He licked his lips at her. Penny couldn't help but shiver in disgust.

"So, about that room," she tried to change the subject.

"Damn, you beautiful. You must not be from around here."

"Why you say that?"

"Ain't no ass like this around here," he said smacking her ass. She grabbed his hand hella fast and flicked it away.

"DON'T. TOUCH." All playfulness had left her tone at the blatant show of disrespect.

"I've never met a stingy whore before. I thought you said you'd do anything to stay at my motel," he chuckled. And that's when Penny completely dropped the act.

"What's wrong nigger, cat got your tongue?" Penny gave a wicked smile before reeling back and head-butting the man in the face, breaking his nose.

"You bitch!!!" Penny wiped her forehead as some of his blood got on her. Disgusted, she then kneed him in the balls and watched as he dropped to the floor.

"What did you call me?" She used the bottom of her boot and started stomping on his dick. The man screamed in pain and rolled over on his side to shield himself, but Penny just kept kicking anywhere she could land a solid blow.

"I'm sorry. Just stop. Please!" Penny laughed, nudging him back over onto his back. She then plopped down on his chest. "You still wanna play," she teased, patting his cheeks.

"Really P," Tony said unamused.

"What? This asshole smacked my ass, and then he called me a nigger. Racist ass bitch," she spat on his face and stood up.

Dashawn walked in shortly after and eyed the name tag on the desk. This was indeed the Bob he was looking for. So, he got straight to the point like always.

"I'll make this quick Bob. I heard that you just recently paid a lot of money for a little girl down in Georgia. This is what she looks like," D said, raising his phone to show him the most recent photo of Imani. Penny grabbed her own phone and pulled up dozens of photos that Asha had sent her.

"Where is she?"

"I don't want any trouble," Bob said. He was now anxious to get them out of his building. He had a successful operation going on and he didn't need anyone ruining it. He profited heavily off of young kids, especially little girls. Even though he had paid a lot of money for Imani, he would give her up in a heartbeat to save his growing business.

"Then show me where she is."

"Okay, okay," Bob held his hands up to signal that he had no problem cooperating. Dashawn allowed Bob to slowly get up on his own, and Bob kept his hands up as they all followed him out into the small lot. He then walked them down to the other end of the building until they stood in front of room 15. Bob slowly put the key in and cracked the door open. Dashawn immediately grabbed Bob, using his body as a shield as he rushed them through the door.

Chance stayed on the outside to guard the room as Dashawn, Penny, and Tony went in.

"What the fuck!" A woman's voice sounded through the room.

"Sit back down," Penny held her gun up to the woman's face. The woman quickly closed her mouth and sat down.

"I said I don't want any trouble," Bob mumbled, gasping for air as D held him in a chokehold.

"Sorry if I don't trust you nigga. Now where is she?"

"T-They're all in t-the bathroom," Bob did his best to talk through the pressure. "I-I can't breathe." Dashawn ignored him and gestured for Penny to move towards the bathroom. When she did, Tony took over her place by the woman.

Penny opened the bathroom door and immediately covered her nose. The small space reeked of bodily fluids.

She fumbled her hand across the wall until she felt a switch, and when she flipped the light on, she gasped in shock.

"Oh my god." She frantically searched the bathroom with her eyes, looking for any sign of a familiar face.

"Imani?" Penny had to maneuver around the small bodies, all of which were huddled closely together. She immediately started checking pulses, and luckily all of them were still alive, only unconscious.

Noticing the tub, she staggered over to it and yanked the curtains back. "Imani?" She checked the pulse of first girl, then the second, and then the third. They were all still alive.

When Penny finally got to the last girl, her fingers were shaking so bad that she had to use both hands to carefully remove the girl's hair from out of her face.

"Oh my god. Dashawn!!"

.....