FREDDY PRINCE | CH. 6
Chapter Six
Mack, Mayor Montgomery’s mule, followed Kalani everywhere she went that day. When he saw her talking to Freddy, he got spooked and had to call Montgomery immediately. He knew Freddy was a world-renowned investigator and the two of them linking up was no coincidence.
“We might have a problem,” he said, keeping his eyes on his target.
“Problem? What kind of problem?” Montgomery asked.
“Kalani’s talking to Fredrick Prince right now. I don’t know what they’re talking about, but I’m willing to bet it’s about her mom.”
Montgomery jolted up from his desk and cursed so loudly that his bodyguards rushed into his office to make sure everything was okay. The last person he expected his daughter to pay a visit was the one guy who had dirt on him.
“Fuck!” he spat. “She’s not gonna let this thing go.”
“Relax.”
Mack’s voice was so deep it made him sound dangerous even when he came in peace.
“Let’s not jump the gun so soon,” he said. “We don’t know if that’s what they’re talking about for sure, and nothing's come out in the press yet, so maybe he’s backing her down.”
Montgomery knew nothing about Mack and Freddy’s history. He met Mack at a bowling alley one drunken night, and they exchanged stories about the war they fought, and the rest was history. Because Montgomery was familiar with the PTSD and bad memories from being deployed, he never asked much about Mack’s life. All he needed to know was that Mack had his back the same way he had his.
“Maybe,” Montgomery said. “Make sure you keep an eye on them. If need be, remind Mr. Prince of that NDA he signed. And make sure my daughter doesn’t get too comfortable snooping around. If this shit gets out now, they’re gonna throw the book at us.”
It wasn’t until five years into Mack working as Montgomery’s muscle that he ran into Elm again, and even then they kept their rekindled love affair away from the public eye because Elm didn’t know how to tell her children that Mack was their father.
“Got ya,” Mack said, ready to end his call. “I’ll make sure I’m on top of it.”
When Mack and Elm met, they were still teenagers and fresh out of high school. It was love at first sight for them. But when Mack joined the Marines and got shipped off and thrown into active duty, their relationship was put on hold. Though Elm tried to wait on him for many years, she was a woman who got lonely and wanted to give up on their love.
Mack would come home on his leave to visit and spend time with her, but it wasn’t enough to keep her satisfied. She ended up giving up on their relationship when he missed the birth of their son and left her to manage taking care of both children on her own.
It wasn’t until they were going into their middle ages that he finally retired from the Marine Corps and flew back to Virginia to find her. By then, though, Freddy was twenty-one, and no longer needed his father's guidance.
“I need you to look into someone for me.”
Mack placed a call to an old hound dog he knew from his war days.
“A guy named Fredrick Prince. Do a quick scan and tell me what you find.”
Larry, a computer wiz with an addiction to the purest cocaine and women, had no problem filling favors for Mack. They were buds, and Mack always paid him what he knew he was worth. Either that, or he made sure to satisfy Larry’s craving for white powder in exchange for his expertise.
“Shit.” Larry sounded impressed. “Who is this kid? I don’t have a damn thing on him. Aside from kissing elbows with some infamously known drug lords, he seems legit. He does a lot of community work here in Virginia too.”
Mack nodded proudly while Larry gave him the rundown on his son.
“Ah! Wait a minute, you know what! I know this guy. He’s the guy the city board is giving a hard time about opening a community center. Give the fucking guy a break, will ya. He’s trying to make a difference in the world. Now, if he’s using it to smuggle drugs or clean drug money, then yeah, lock him up and throw away the key. But what’s the harm in wanting to help the community? That’s the government for ya.”
A lot of times, the hyper-high Larry got from the coke he filled his nose with made him flow off topic and go on a tangent about the government. He hated the government. Larry was one of those firm believers in secret societies and government scandals. He was just waiting on the perfect opportunity to hack the system and reboot everything.
“Any family?” Mack asked.
“A sister and niece. His mom was Elmira Prince. A very noble woman. She really loved what she did and was passionate about it. Those fuckers! Fuck! I hate how they wanna wipe all the good ones out.”
Just hearing her name brought back a lot of memories for Mack. He was also proud to know his son was a legit man. Even if Freddy wasn’t as straight as he appeared to be on paper, it impressed Mack that he had the ability to keep his face clean.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
The more rocks Larry overturned in Freddy’s life, the more information he was able to dig up.
“It says here he did some time when he was twenty-three, but I can’t find any record of that anywhere. You think he’s a snitch? Is that why you’re looking into him?”
“No. No. Nothing like that.”
Mack knew all about the time Freddy did for possession with intent to distribute. He also knew why Larry wasn’t able to find the records anywhere. Montgomery pulled some strings and had Freddy’s record completely erased so he’d be able to keep a clean face in politics. It was another form of payment for him to keep his mouth shut.
“Well, there’s nothing on this kid. Nothing major anyway.”
Larry’s tone sounded more inquisitive than it had when Mack first called.
“Why are you so interested in this kid?” he asked.
Mack sat stiffly in his seat for a moment. He wondered if he should tell Larry that Freddy was his son and possibly his next target. Then he thought about Montgomery. They’d done a lot of dirty work over the years without thinking twice about it, but times changed for Mack. He got older and felt like, since Elm was gone, he had nothing to live for.
He started to view his loyalty to his friend as a burden in his life. That same loyalty drove him to kill his one true love and danced on the verge of making him have to kill his only son. So, Mack felt like he would be on the losing end regardless of whether he turned on Montgomery for the sake of his son or not.
“Larry, let me call you back.”
Kalani was on the move, and it was an excellent escape away from their conversation.
“If you happen to come across anything else, give me a call.”
“Will do,” Larry said.
Mack fired up his engine and followed the car that picked Kalani up from the nail salon. He expected her to head over to her father's or wherever she was staying while she was in Virginia, but was surprised when her Uber ride carried them to the highway.
They didn’t exit the highway until thirty minutes later and ended up in a quiet neighborhood called Dunes Town on the city's outskirts. It wasn’t a place Mack had ever heard Kalani or her father talking about, so he figured she was there to meet a boyfriend or an old friend.
Parked a few houses up the street, he watched closely as Kalani made her way up to the door. When he saw who answered, he nearly hit the roof.
“Dahlia?” he squinted. “What the fuck!”
He cursed and banged his large hands against the steering wheel.
“What the fuck is she doing back here?”
There was no time for him to make a move on the house because Kalani didn’t stay inside long. On top of that, he was so awe-struck about seeing his sister after so many years; he didn’t know what he’d do if he barged inside.
After three more stops, the Uber driver escorted them back onto the highway and in the direction of the city again. Once they were back, he followed the car into the parking lot of the hotel Kalani was staying at and made his way over to talk to her.
“Lani.”
He called out to her just before she made it inside the building.
“Mack?” she frowned as she turned to face him. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just passing through,” he lied. “Your dad told me you were in town, and when I saw you walking up, I thought I’d say hi.”
Kalani was a pain in her father’s ass, but Mack liked her. The relationship between him and her wasn’t a bad one at all; Mack just knew not to cross the line between family. Even though he was fond of Kalani and thought she was a brilliant young woman, he did his best to keep his nose out of the feud between father and daughter.
Kalani folded her arms across her chest and smiled beneath her Hijab. She liked Mack too, but she didn’t trust him. She didn’t trust anyone who worked with her father. Which sucked for her relationship with Mack, because she felt like he was a good guy outside of her father’s orders.
“Hi, Mack,” she said. “It’s been a while, huh?”
“Yeah, it has. I was wondering if you’d ever come back.”
“If it wasn’t for my mom, I would’ve never come back here.”
Mack felt guilty inside all over again. No matter what he did, or how lighthearted he tried to be, he felt like a fuck up.
“It’s a tragedy.”
He lowered his head to keep from making eye contact with her.
“Your dad and I.”
“Please,” she scoffed. “Don’t speak his name and my mother in the same conversation. I don’t care what he’s done. All I care about is proving he had something to do with this, and I pray he didn’t drag you into this hell with him.”
Her father had dragged him to hell. It became apparent to him more and more. He’d lost business opportunities over Montgomery, the woman he was in love with, and a relationship with his children.
A lot of thoughts came to Mack’s mind while talking to Kalani that night. Her determination to prove what she knew to be true was terrifying, but it also inspired him to make a few moves of his own.
“Kalani,” he sighed. “We’ve all done things in life that we’re not proud of.”
He watched as her eyes shifted from disgust to anticipation.
“Your father loved your mother. They may have had their differences, but he loved her. I know how you feel about him; you have every right to feel your emotions. But don’t go stirring up trouble you’re not ready for because of your emotions.”
It was a cold approach, but he had to do it. At least, until he figured out how much she knew about the night he helped her father dump her mother’s body.
“Oh no.”
Kalani shifted her weight to one foot and rolled her neck.
“I’ll come with facts. There won’t be a rock in Virginia going unturned while I’m here. And when I find out who did this -for the sake of being unbiased- I will seek justice to the fullest extent of the law.”
She walked away before letting Mack say anything else that night. Kalani meant business. It was too early for him to decide how to silence her, but he knew it was urgent that he come up with a plan.
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