Christmas in the Hood (16 page)

“Notice I said
attempt
to steal. I’m going to help you get inside his house.”

“But if I don’t steal the stones, I won’t have the money.”

“My plan is to set Carlos up. Since Gray and Carlos are known enemies, think about what’s going to happen when you get caught and tell Gray that Carlos sent you to steal the stones.”

“Why would Gray believe me? And how will that benefit Paris? Coming between two enemies won’t get her home.”

Parker liked Noelle more and more by the minute. She asked all the right questions at the right time. He took a bite of his
baked potato before he continued. “There are only three people who know about that safe in Gray’s home. Carlos is one of them. Gray will believe Carlos sent you because the other two people would never talk about the safe.”

“If the other two would never talk, how do you know about the safe?”

“I’m one of the two,” Parker revealed, and smiled. “And the only reason I’m telling you is because I don’t want your sister to be killed.”

Noelle’s head was spinning. Whether it was from the plan or the wine, she didn’t know. All she kept seeing was Paris’s sweet face, her bright smile, and hearing her voice which lacked its usual melodic tone as she replayed their earlier phone conversation.

If Parker thought the plan would work, then she was willing to try it. Nothing ventured … but she had everything to gain.

“So if I’m not really stealing the jewels, how do I get the money to get Paris back?”

“You are going to tell Gray that you will give him proof that Carlos sent you. You tell him that, and Gray will take care of the rest. Be honest with him. Tell him it’s your mother’s debt, and Carlos murdered your mother and kidnapped your sister for ransom.”

“Gray will believe me? And help me?”

“Yes, I’m positive.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’ll be there. I’ll make sure he believes you,” Parker stated matter-of-factly.

That statement sent Noelle for a loop. She had been following
along until that revelation popped out. “Wait. Why would you be there? You’re losing me.”

“Gray will call me the moment he catches you because I’m one of the two other people who know about the safe, like I said earlier.”

“How do you know about it?”

“Because I designed it.”

Chapter Thirteen

N
oelle showed up bright and early at Parker’s downtown brownstone. Apparently he did quite well for himself. She had seen the silver BMW the valet had delivered curbside the previous night as they left Ruth’s Chris. And after learning that he designed impenetrable security systems for wealthy individuals, she knew that he had money.

Parker had explained that he could give her the money, but Carlos wouldn’t stop until he had what he
really
wanted, which was another murdered innocent life on his hands. The man seemed to get off on shit like that, Parker had told her. And when he was done with Paris, he would come for Noelle. Straight like that.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Parker greeted her as he opened the door and ushered Noelle inside. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

Parker’s crib was anything but humble. Expensive artwork adorned the walls, and authentic African masks and sculptures
were placed strategically throughout the rooms. Both the architecture and the furniture had sleek lines, which fit his personality to a tee.

“I took the liberty of fixing you some breakfast. After we eat, then we get to work.”

“Okay, thank you,” she said, as she admired his paintings. Parker guided her through the house to the kitchen, where he’d set two places at the island in the center. Once Noelle saw perfect crepes on a platter, her mouth started watering. She hadn’t had such delicious home cooking in a long time.

Parker filled their plates, and poured two mugs of coffee and two glasses of orange juice.

“I like your shirt,” she remarked. “I thought you’d been to Focal Point before.”

Parker laughed. “I told you I’d seen you somewhere before. Terrence is a friend of mine.”

Noelle eyed the newest SHYO (Stop Hating Your Own) shirt on the market. The shirts Terrence designed to sell in his own boutique next door to the barbershop sold like hotcakes. It had been a smart business venture. Parker must be very good friends with Terrence, because SHYO couture shirts went only to a certain few VIPs.

“You’ve been to the shop and never asked me to twist your hair? I should be offended.”

“Well, now I know better. Eat up. It’s going to be a long day.” Noelle started in on her breakfast with gusto, because the sooner she finished eating, the sooner Parker could begin teaching her how to break into Gray’s home and his safe. She would be one step closer to rescuing her sister.

Thirty minutes later, Parker took her by the hand and led her to the study.

The room looked masculine, with chocolate brown leather wingback chairs, a huge cherry desk, and more African artwork. A map of Africa was framed on a side wall.

“How many times have you been to Africa?” she asked, eyeing a picture of him with Nelson Mandela.

“Four times for business, once for pleasure. It’s gorgeous there. I’ll take you and Paris once the fiasco with this asshole is over.”

“What did Carlos ever do to you?” she asked, sensing a personal vendetta.

Parker was silent a moment, but decided to tell her the truth.

“My mother went to Carlos for money ten years ago. When she met him to pay it back, he raped her. The money was for my college tuition, but I didn’t know she was struggling at the time. She became so depressed and withdrawn that she took her own life. I found out everything six months later when I finally had the strength to go through her things before I sold the house. She kept a detailed journal.”

Parker worked as he talked, pulling out blueprints of Gray’s house and a miniature replica of the safe in the closet.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” she told him.

“Well, now we have a chance to kill the bastard, so let’s get started.”

Noelle thought about everything Carlos had done and realized that she actually wanted the man dead. He had taken the one thing in life that was most precious to her: Paris. The only way she would feel safe for the rest of their lives was if he were dead.

For the next several hours Parker explained how the safe was
designed and how to disable all the built-in security mechanisms. She asked question after question about which wires did what, which buttons were located where, and how the voice recognition program should be disabled.

Parker gave her a pair of tiny wire cutters so that she could get familiar with using them. He explained that, before she made it to the safe, she would have to bypass the alarm system to get into the house.

Bypassing the alarm actually seemed to be easy. It was the safe she was worried about. She kept forgetting the part where she was supposed to disable the voice recognition. It was crucial. The plan depended on her getting her hands on the jewels to make a hard case against Carlos. Gray had to believe Carlos was setting him up.

“Let’s take a ten-minute break,” Parker told her after seeing her frustration. He knew the design for the safe was intricate. Hell, it was one of his best designs. But Noelle was doing a good job learning everything. They were just going to have to practice a lot more, but they had all day.

“No, I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s keep going so I can get this right. Paris’s life depends on it.”

“Baby, it’s okay. You’ll get it right.”

Parker took Noelle’s wire cutters out of her hand and set them on top of the desk. Then he gathered her into his arms and held her as her tears fell.

“We are going to get Paris home.
I promise.
Now, let’s take a break, and you’ll feel a lot better when we get back to work. It’s what helps me.”

Parker slowly stroked her back and breathed in her scent. Before he realized what he was about to do, he dipped his head and kissed her gently on the lips. She responded with a kiss of her own that had his loins aching by the time they separated.

“Now is a good time for that break,” Noelle said, and backed away flustered. “Where’s your restroom?”

“Down the hall on your left,” he replied. “And I really meant what I said about Africa, Noelle. I want to take you and Paris with me.”

Noelle could do nothing more than nod her head. She couldn’t understand how such good and bad could happen all at once.

Chapter Fourteen

P
aris watched the end of her favorite soap opera,
Days of Our Lives.
It was hard to focus on the show because she was so hungry, and she cried the whole time. It was Christmastime, and everyone on the soap was with their families, baking cookies or preparing turkeys or wrapping presents. She wanted nothing more than to eat in her own kitchen with her sister.

Ronald usually brought her three meals a day, and sometimes snacks, but she hadn’t seen him since he let her use his cell phone. Some fat man had brought her dinner the night before, and that had been it.

She wanted out of the room. She wanted food, and she
wanted to go home. Paris balled her fists and slammed them onto the floor. She missed Noelle so badly. She even missed her sister fussing at her about doing homework.

Paris hadn’t even really thought about the fact that her mother was dead. Noelle had been mothering her for so long that she was just grateful that nothing had happened to her sister. Really, that would have been even more devastating. Paris wondered just how Noelle was going to come up with so much money so fast.

Her attention turned toward the door as she heard it being unlocked. She was praying that it was Ronald, because he was nice to her, but no such luck. It was the fat man again, with a pizza box in one hand and sodas in the other.

Paris hated him. She remembered his coming down the stairs at her house with a crazy grin on his face. He had the same exact grin now as he carried the food into the room and set it on the bed.

“Here you go, honey,” he drawled as he sat on the bed near the food, then patted the bed next to him.

Paris grew very scared very fast. There was something about him that alarmed her instantly. She was one of the few kids who stayed awake during the safety videos shown at school. She knew to pay attention to that weird feeling on the back of her neck and in the bottom of her stomach.

“I said sit down,” he told her forcefully.

Paris began to sit on the bed with the pizza box between them, but he smoothly slid the pizza and sodas to the other side, leaving the only available seat next to him.

Again, he patted the bed beside him and told her to sit down.

Paris didn’t want to sit down, but she did anyway. She kept as much room as she could between them, which was hard, considering the man was so large.

“You are so pretty,” he said, running the tip of his index finger down her cheek, which made her even more scared. There was no way she would be able to get away from him.

Please no, please no
, she repeated over and over again in her mind.

When he stuck his hand out and began rubbing her leg, she jumped up immediately. It was turning into an awful situation. It was bad enough she was being held for ransom, but she was
not
going to let a man molest her. She didn’t want those problems. She and Noelle watched the Lifetime Channel together all the time. She wasn’t going to turn into a Moment of Truth movie of the week.

“You must not want to eat, then,” he shouted, picking up the pizza box and heading for the bedroom door.

Paris put a hand on his arm to stop him from taking the pizza away and shouted, “No, I’m hungry!”

“If you’re hungry, little one, let’s start with dessert,” he told her, then unzipped his pants and exposed himself quickly.

Paris screamed and closed her eyes as tightly as possible. She had never seen a man’s private parts before, and it terrified her. There was no way he was going to make her go near that big black ugly thing. She was hungry, but she was losing her appetite quickly.

“You put this in your mouth, then I’ll give you all the pizza you want,” he told her with a big smile.

Paris darted for the door, but he closed it with one big hand. The door opened, however, and Ronald walked into the room just in time to sum up the situation immediately.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Ronald said, and snatched the pizza box out of the fat man’s hand.

Watching the fat man leave, Paris had never been happier to see Ronald. She ran up to him and impulsively threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. Because of Ronald, she could finally relax and eat. Then before she knew it, Noelle would be there to rescue her.

“He won’t bother you again,” Ronald said, handing her the box of pizza.

“Thank you,” she replied, wiping tears from her eyes and sitting back on the floor in front of the television. Noelle had to hurry. Despite Ronald’s assurances, Paris had a feeling fat man was going to be back sooner rather than later.

Chapter Fifteen

“
A
re you nervous?”

“Scared shitless,” Noelle replied, then laughed.
Nervous was an understatement
, she thought to herself.

Parker walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. He loved to breathe in her scent and couldn’t seem to get enough of it. It seemed strange that they had met only a few days ago. He felt as if he’d known Noelle for years.

“You’ll be fine, baby,” he reassured her. “I’ll be able to talk to you and see you.”

Noelle pulled a black spandex shirt over her head and smoothed it down. Coupled with the black knit pants, she actually looked like a cat burglar. She had even tied a black scarf around her locs. She looked the part, but the question was, could she
play
the part?

Yes, you can! You have to for Paris!

Parker strapped a black utility belt around her waist and went over the contents again. She had done remarkably well the past two days, but repetition made for good memorization.

“I look like Batman, don’t I?”