The Black Market Read online

  ALSO BY KIKI SWINSON

  The Playing Dirty Series: Playing Dirty and Notorious

  The Candy Shop

  A Sticky Situation

  The Wifey Series: Wifey, I’m Still Wifey, Life After Wifey,

  Still Wifey Material

  Wife Extraordinaire Series: Wife Extraordinaire and Wife

  Extraordinaire Returns

  Cheaper to Keep Her Series: Books 1–5

  The Score Series: The Score and The Mark

  Dead on Arrival

  The Black Market

  ANTHOLOGIES

  Sleeping with the Enemy (with Wahida Clark)

  Heist and Heist 2 (with De’nesha Diamond)

  Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless (with Noire)

  A Gangster and a Gentleman (with De’nesha Diamond)

  Most Wanted (with Nikki Turner)

  Still Candy Shopping (with Amaleka McCall)

  Fistful of Benjamins (with De’nesha Diamond)

  Schemes and Dirty Tricks (with Saundra)

  Bad Behavior (with Noire)

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  The BLACK MARKET

  KIKI SWINSON

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  1 - MISTY

  2 - WHAT AN EYE OPENER

  3 - UNFRIENDLY VISITORS

  4 - WHAT NOW?

  5 - SOMETHING ISN’T ADDING UP

  6 - BACK ON THE J.O.B.

  7 - THE AHA MOMENT

  8 - FAMILY DRAMA

  9 - MOVING ON

  10 - WHEN I SAY NO!

  11 - TRYING TO FIGURE THINGS OUT

  12 - ELIMINATING PROBLEMS

  13 - MAKING A CHANGE

  14 - I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT

  15 - TIME TO START PLOTTING ON YOUR ASS

  16 - SOMETHING SMELLS LIKE A RAT

  17 - THE INTERVIEW

  18 - DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!

  19 - I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE

  20 - I’M SO OVER THIS SHIT

  21 - MY FIRST DAY WIRED UP

  22 - THROWING STONES

  23 - WHAT ON EARTH WAS HE THINKING?

  24 - FAMILY WILL GET YOU KILLED

  25 - ONE LIE AFTER THE NEXT

  26 - SO MELODRAMATIC

  27 - NAILING DOWN THE PLAN

  28 - IT WAS AN ACCIDENT

  29 - PARANOIA AT ITS FINEST

  30 - I CAN’T BELIEVE MY EYES

  31 - BODY PARTS

  32 - WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?

  33 - COVERING MY TRACKS

  34 - THE DAY OF THE HEIST

  35 - THERE’S MORE AT STAKE

  36 - READ ME MY RIGHTS

  37 - DON’T BLAME ME

  38 - FLESH & BLOOD

  39 - NOT MY FAMILY

  40 - WE HAVE A CRISIS

  41 - GET ME OUT OF HERE

  42 - MORE BLOOD ON MY HANDS

  43 - HOPELESS

  Teaser chapter

  To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

  DAFINA BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2018 by Kiki Swinson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2018944169

  Dafina and the Dafina logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-1280-6

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-1283-7 (e-book)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-1283-8 (e-book)

  1

  MISTY

  I’d been in this world too long to just now be finding my way. But here I was, feeling grateful and shit about being healthy and having a roof over my head, thanks to the steady pay from my latest employer.

  For the last five and a half months, I’d been collecting a check working as a pharmacy tech. The job was easy and my boss, Dr. Sanjay Malik, was a dream to work with. Not only was he a nice guy, he was very generous with the monthly bonuses he paid me and he would occasionally let me get off work early. The bonuses were for the extra work I did delivering prescriptions to senior citizens who weren’t mobile or couldn’t pick up their medication. Sanjay would have me deliver their meds to them, and after I completed the deliveries, he usually told me to take off work for the rest of the day, which I found awesome.

  But three weeks ago, I noticed that Sanjay had me delivering meds to dark and questionable neighborhoods. I never said anything to him about it because who was I? And what was I going to get out of questioning him? He owned this place, which meant that he could fire my ass on the spot. So, I left well enough alone and minded my own damn business.

  Sanjay wasn’t aware of this, but I’d taken a few pills here and there for my cousin Jillian. Jillian got into a bad car accident over a year ago and hadn’t fully recovered from it. Her doctor cut off her prescription meds six months ago, so I stepped in and threw a few pills at her when I was able to get my hands on some.

  The first time, I stole two Percocet pills and two Vicodin pills. Each time I stole from the pharmacy, I took a few more pills. My nerves used to be on edge for about a day after each time I pocketed those pills, but since cops never showed up to cuff me, I knew Sanjay hadn’t figured out I’d been stealing from him. I hoped he never would.

  As soon as I walked into the pharmacy, I noticed that there were only three customers waiting for their prescriptions. I said good morning to everyone waiting as I walked behind the counter, clocked in, and went to work.

  It didn’t take long for Sanjay and I to ready those customers’ prescriptions and get them on their way. After ringing up the last customer, I turned to Sanjay. “We got any deliveries?” I asked him while I searched through our online refill requests.

  “I think we have six or maybe seven,” he replied, before turning to answer the phone.

  Sanjay was a handsome man. He resembled Janet Jackson’s billionaire ex-husband. But unlike Janet Jackson’s ex, Sanjay wasn’t wealthy, at least to my knowledge. He owned this little pharmacy on the city limits of Virginia Beach, near Pembroke Mall. There was nothing fancy about the place, just your basic small business. But I often wondered why this doctor, who was doing well enough to own this place and have employees like me, wasn’t married? From time to time I’d jokingly tell him that I was going to set him up with one of my friends. And his response would always be, “Oh, no. Believe me, I am fine. Women require too much.”

  Not too long after I started working here, he told me that his family was from Cairo, Egypt. From the way he talked about their homes and travel, I knew they were doing well for themselves. He also told me that education was a big deal in his country. And arranged marriages too.

  “Think I could get me a man over in Cairo?” I’d teased. But his answer had no humor in it.

  “You wouldn’t want a husband from my country, because the men are very strict and the women they marry are disciplined. The things you say and do here in the US wouldn’t be tolerated where I’m from.”

  Damn! “Yeah, whatever, Sanjay!” I’d chuckled.

  Working at Sanjay’s pharmacy was fairly easy. Time would go by fast. The first half of the day, it would be somewhat busy, and after two p.m. the traffic would die down. This was when I’d take my lunch break. If I didn’t bring in
my lunch from home, I’d leave the pharmacy and walk over to the food court in Pembroke Mall. This day was one of those days.

  “I’m going to lunch, Sanjay. Want anything from Pembroke Mall?” I asked him.

  “No, I’m fine. But thank you,” he replied.

  I walked over to the computer, clocked out, and then I left the building. On my way out, I ran into Sanjay’s brother, Amir. As usual, he said nothing to me.

  I’d always found it odd that Amir would stop by to see Sanjay during my lunch break. And if I was there when Amir walked into the pharmacy, Sanjay would send me on my lunch break or even send me home for the rest of the day. Now, I wasn’t complaining because I loved when he let me leave work early, but at the same time, there aren’t any coincidences. Something wasn’t right with that guy and I knew it.

  Sanjay had spoken to me about his brother, but I didn’t know much. He lived close by and was married with three children. And just like Sanjay, Amir was also very handsome. But Amir never said a word to me. If I hadn’t heard Amir greet Sanjay, I’d wonder if he could speak at all. He’d wave at me when he’d come and go, but that was it. I never asked Sanjay how old his brother was because you could clearly see that Amir was younger. He was never flashy. He always wore a pair of casual pants and a regular button-down shirt. He had the look of a car salesman.

  I grabbed some Chinese food from the food court in the mall and then I took a seat at one of the tables near one of the mall’s exits. While I was eating, I got a call from my cousin Jillian. Her father and my mother are siblings. My uncle committed suicide when we were kids, so she lived with her mother until she turned eighteen. From there she’d been back and forth from having her own apartment to sleeping under our grandmother’s roof. Jillian was a pretty, twenty-six-year-old, full-figured woman. She wasn’t the brightest when it came to picking the men in her life, but she had a good heart and that’s all that mattered to me.

  She’d barely said hello before she asked, “Think you can bring me a couple of Percocets on your way home?”

  “Jillian, not today,” I griped.

  “You’re acting like I’m asking you to bring me a pill bottle of ’em,” Jillian protested. “And besides, you know I don’t ask you unless I really need them.”

  I let out a long sigh and said, “I’m gonna bring you only two. And that’s it.”

  “Thank you,” Jillian said with excitement.

  “Yeah, whatever. You’re such a spoiled brat,” I told her.

  “So. What are you doing?”

  “Sitting in the food court of Pembroke Mall, eating some Chinese food.”

  “What time do you get off today?”

  “I think I’m gonna leave at about seven since it’s Saturday.”

  “Has it been busy today?”

  “Kinda . . . sorta,” I replied between each chew.

  “So, what are you doing after work?”

  “Terrell has been harassing me, talking about he wants to see me,” I told her. Terrell was my on-and-off-again boyfriend.

  “That sounds so boring.”

  “What do you want me to do, sit around all day like you and get high off prescription drugs?” I said sarcastically.

  “Oh, Misty, that was a low blow. You know I don’t do this shit for fun. If I don’t take those drugs I’m going to be in serious pain.”

  “Look, I know you need ’em, so I’m going to get off your back. But from time to time, you do ask me for more than you should have.”

  “That’s because I be trying to make a few dollars here and there. Oh, and speaking of which, I got a business proposition for you.”

  “What is it now?”

  “I got a homeboy that will pay top dollar for twenty to twenty-five Vicodin pills.”

  “Jillian, are you freaking crazy?! There’s no way in hell that I’m going to be able to get that many pills at one time.”

  “He’s paying four hundred dollars. But I’m gonna have to get my cut off the top, which would be a hundred.”

  I sighed. “Jillian, I’m not doing it.”

  “Come on, Misty, stop being paranoid. You can do it,” Jillian whined.

  “Do you want me to lose my job?”

  “Of course not. But you’re acting like you’ve never taken drugs from your job before.”

  “Look, I’m not doing it. Case closed.”

  “Just think about it.” Jillian pressed the issue, but I ignored her.

  I changed the subject. “Is Grandma home?”

  “She’s in the laundry room folding clothes.”

  “Did she say she was cooking dinner?”

  “Yeah, she’s got a pot roast in the oven.”

  “Save some for me,” I told Jillian.

  “You know I will.”

  I changed the subject again. “You still talking to Edmund?”

  “I just got off the phone with his frugal ass!”

  I chuckled. “What has he refused to pay for now?”

  “I asked him to order me a pizza online and he told me that he ain’t have any money.”

  “Doesn’t he own and operate a janitorial business?”

  “Yep.”

  “Then he shouldn’t be broke,” I said. “Look, just leave that fool alone. You give him too much pussy for him to not feed you.”

  “I know, right!” she agreed. But I read her like a book because as soon as we got off the phone with one another, I knew she’d call that selfish-ass nigga and act like her stomach wasn’t growling.

  She and I talked for another ten minutes or so about her finding another job instead of sitting on her ass all day, crying about how much pain she’s in. It seemed like my grandmother let her ride with that lame-ass excuse, but I knew better. My grandmother knew exactly what was going on, but looked the other way because she enjoyed Jillian’s company and she didn’t want to be alone in that big house. Jillian had a free ride anyway you looked at it.

  “Don’t forget to put some of that pot roast aside,” I reminded her.

  “I won’t,” she said, and right before I hung up, I heard her add, “Don’t forget my meds either.”

  My only response to that was a head shake.

  2

  WHAT AN EYE OPENER

  I headed back over to the pharmacy after I finished eating my lunch. When I walked through the front door there were two people waiting for their prescriptions, but Sanjay was nowhere around.

  “Has anyone been helped?” I inquired as I circled around the customers to get behind the counter.

  “No. We’ve been standing here for about five minutes,” an elderly man said.

  “He’s right.” Another white man spoke up. “I even peeped around the counter to see if anyone was there,” he continued.

  “Well, don’t worry. I’ll help you two gentlemen,” I assured them as I walked around the counter.

  I took both men’s prescriptions and then I logged them into our system. Immediately after I did that, I searched the storage room where we kept our drugs and medical devices. I thought I might find Sanjay in there, but the room was empty. Alarmed, I walked to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

  “Sanjay, are you in there?” I asked. But he didn’t answer. So I knocked on the door again. “Sanjay, are you in there?” I repeated, and when I didn’t get an answer, I grabbed ahold of the doorknob and twisted it lightly, opening the door calmly. It was plain to see that Sanjay wasn’t in there.

  The only other place I figured Sanjay could be was in the back of the building. So I closed the bathroom door and headed in that direction. The back door was slightly ajar, so I pushed it open.

  “Sanjay, there you are,” I said after I laid eyes on him shoving boxes in the trunk of his brother Amir’s car. I could tell that he wasn’t expecting to see me. He looked very nervous. While Amir continued to maneuver boxes that obviously came from the pharmacy, Sanjay walked toward me.

  “Did you need something?” he asked me in a weird kind of way. The way he said it sounded like a ma
fia boss asking an innocent bystander who witnessed a murder, did he see something?

  I was taken aback and I really didn’t know what to say. But then it hit me. “We have two customers in the pharmacy who said they’ve been waiting for over ten minutes for someone to help them.” I twisted the truth a little.

  “Take care of them,” Sanjay insisted.

  “I already have,” I lied.

  “So, what’s the problem?”

  “There’s no problem. I just wanted to make sure that you were still around.”

  “Well, I’m here,” he said.

  “Okay, well, I’ll go back in and take care of everything while you’re out here . . .” I said, and then I turned around and left him standing at the back door. I heard it close behind me as I headed back inside to the waiting customers.

  “Sorry about that,” I said. “The pharmacist is in the back of the building signing for some deliveries from the UPS driver.” It seemed like a solid excuse.

  “He may not want to do that the next time around, because instead of me and this other fella waiting around, it might be some young kids robbing you guys of all of your prescription drugs,” the younger man said.

  “I agree,” the other man said.

  Seriously? These two watched too much TV. “I will definitely make mention of that as soon as he gets back in here,” I assured them.

  Since Sanjay had basically given me the green light to process these gentlemen’s prescriptions, I ran straight over to the cabinet where the Percocet pills were stored. I knew I had a small window of opportunity to get these pills for Jillian so we could make a few extra dollars. Immediately after I grabbed the pill bottle I heard Sanjay open and close the back door of the pharmacy. My heart started racing while I struggled to open the plastic bottle. But to no avail, it didn’t open for some crazy-ass reason. I’ve never had a problem opening and closing a pill bottle.

  “I’m so sorry, you guys,” I heard Sanjay say. So I knew he was standing behind the counter near the cash register. Frozen like ice, I stood there not knowing whether to put the bottle of Percocet back in the supply cabinet or stick it in my pocket. I heard Sanjay walking in my direction, so I nearly panicked.