Chapter 58 Damage Control

Michael's blissful moment while he tried catching his breath after his second climax was shattered as bullets came flying through the window. In a split second, he grabs Liah and hurls both their bodies off the side of the bed. Liah fell on top of him, and he quickly wrapped the sheet around her naked, trembling body.

"Stay here." He orders, scrambling towards his boxers and pants on the floor. Less than a minute later, he grabs his gun from the table and cranks it as more bullets fly over their heads, shattering glasses and ornaments in the room.

Liah couldn't believe what was happening. One minute, they were floating on cloud nine after their epic lovemaking, and the next, bullets were flying everywhere.

Now, here she was under the bed, her naked body wrapped only in a sheet. Oh God, where was Moses? She wondered poking her head out so she could see him. Please, Lord, let him be okay. She prayed silently.

She saw him standing, his back pressed against the wall inside the door, his gun in his hand. Bullets were still flying everywhere, but he didn't seem to pay much attention to them.

He glances in her direction, then places his fingers over his lips, telling her to be quiet. She then saw him slowly remove two knives from his belt and position them between his fingers. Ever since he took out the other side's base, she has heard a lot from random people talking about the way he moves.

Some say he moves in stealth mode like a ninja because he moves without making a sound. Some say he moves like a ghost because his movements are so swift it is hard for one's eye to keep up with him, and some say he moves without fear, which had to be true because right now he was moving as if he was bullet proof.

Faster than her brain could comprehend, he spun and sailed the knives he was holding towards the front door, then swiftly moved to the other side.

She heard a groan followed by a barrage of gunfire all aimed at him, followed by a thud, and did he flinch, not even once. He was just standing there, gun aimed and ready. As soon as the shooting ceases in one swift movement, he spins, points his gun towards the front door, and begins shooting, then again quickly moving to the other side.

He then pointed his gun towards the now shattered window and moved his gun in a straight line, his dark eyes following whoever was out there. Just as she thought he was going to fire, he pulls back his weapon, places his fingers to his lips, and points towards the front door.

Because he had stepped down as the leader of the gang, the men thought he no longer needed to be heavily guarded, but little did they know that men from the other side were still trying to kill him.

Liah flinched and covered her head as more shots went off. When the shooting ceased, she crawled out from under the bed and was attempting to gather her clothes when Michael hurled himself at her, covering her body with his while firing a few shots of his own. She heard him groan as the firing ceased again.

"Moses, are you alright?" She asked, her voice trembling. He slowly turned his head, and as his eyes met hers, she could've sworn they had turned two shades darker. Was that even possible, though? She wondered.

"I told you to remain where you were." He growls softly against her ear. "I...I'm sorry." She whimpered, grabbing his upper arm. He groaned again, and that was when she felt the gash in his flesh and saw blood oozing through her fingers. "Oh my god, Moses, you were shot." She cried in alarm. With a snort, he lifted his head and met her gaze.

"Disobedience can get you killed." He says, narrowing his eyes at her, then he kisses her softly on her lips. "I'm so sorry, baby." "Yow, Michael, you alright, man?" Evan asks. "I'm good!" "We have fi move now!" "Got it. Give me a sec." He then turns back to her. "Get dressed."

As quickly as she could, Liah dragged on her clothes, then grabbed her shoes and bag. Michael pulls his coat on, walks towards the front door, bends down and pulls his knives from the body of the men on the floor and wipes them off on the men's clothes before replacing them in his belt. "Let's go." He orders, grabbing her by the hand.

***

"Why in god's name did the both of you think that this was a good idea?" Anthony demanded, pacing the floor of Razor's office. "Well, I had to take her somewhere. I couldn't bring her here for that purpose now, could I? Nor could I go to her house." Michael states.

"And when exactly were you planning on telling me about these little hookups?" "That, we intended to keep from you for as long as possible, or have you forgotten that you threatened to put a bullet in my head either way?" "My sister could've died today, man."

"We are a ware of that Anthony. Moses was shot because of me." Liah snaps. "I don't understand how they found out about that place though, it was so well hidden." She grumbles with a sigh. "They're obviously still watching him, waiting for a chance to take him out because even though you were at my house when it happened and because they didn't know where you were, they still believe that you were the one that took out their boss in the hospital." Anthony snorts.

"Okay, so where do we go from here?" Michael asks. "Fuck, just remain on the compound for a few days while we do damage control and you two, stay the fuck away from each other for a while," Anthony suggest. "Okay," Michael nods

"Come Liah, let me take you home, and just to be safe, I'll double your protection," Anthony says over his shoulder before leaving the room. Liah runs over to Michael and hugs him tightly. then, capturing his lips with hers, she kissed him passionately until he was breathless.

"I'm going to miss you." She whispers against his lips. "As I will miss you, please be careful.' "I will, baby, and I'm so sorry for disobeying you and getting you shot." She touched his now bandaged upper arm gently. "Don't worry too much, the bullet just grazed me and better me than you." He chuckles grabbing and slapping her butt gently.

"Now go, I'll see you in a few days." "Will you be okay?" "Yes, I'll be fine. Now go." "I love you." "As I love you, Island princess." "Liah!" Anthony snaps from the passage. "Alright, alright, I'm coming."

"You know, that's why the Bible says not to judge." Anthony snorts. "Who's judging?" "Who? That who would be you Liah, before Michael came on the scene you were a stuck up virgin Christian who use to judge the girls form this community harshly might I add, for hooking up with gangsters, but look at you now, getting down and dirty with a gangster, even risking your life to be with him." Anthony laughs.

"Moses didn't choose to be a gangster." She mumbles. "I didn't choose to be a gangster, Liah! And most of the men at Razor's house didn't choose to be gangsters either. We were recruited; it was either join to protect your family or pay the consequences."

"Moses is different." "Is he? Is that really what you're trying to convince yourself of, that he is different?" Anthony scoffs. "He is. he was forced by Razor to do these things, it's not who he is." "We were all forced by Razor to do things we didn't want to, what make him so damn different from anyone of us? And okay let's say he woke up in an unfortunate situation, like most of us you would expect him to suck at it at first but oh no, not him, he just fits right in as if it was already in his blood.

I mean, the man single-handedly took out the other side's base just to protect himself, the leadership position, the receiving of shipments, and securing the funds. he crushed that. The meeting he had the other day with some potential investors, he crushed that. I mean, Razor has been trying to get these men on board for some time now without success, and he knocked it out of the park in one go, boom, done, signed." Anthony snorts.

"The point I'm trying to make here, Liah, is that dude is no average Joe; violence runs in his blood. For whatever god-damn reason, he was trained by someone to be a deadly weapon. He's precisely the kind of person that you and mama always blast with your holy ghost. that's who you're fucking Liah." Anthony states, then continues before she can respond.

"You know this would probably make mama's blood pressure fly up in her head and kill her, right?" He asks. "I know." "I'm not kidding, Liah. Mama and Zoey can never find out about any of this." "They won't, alright." "Good, I don't give a shit what you and Michael do behind closed doors but when you're at home, you'll be the perfect Christian that she raised, got that?' "Got it."

"Seriously, Liah, what is wrong with you? Did what happened to you at Razor's house change you to a point where you're now willing to risk your life just so you can hook up with that man at some remote location? Just so he can do god knows what to your body, which is the temple of the living God, if you have forgotten. Have you no shame?" David blasts her as soon as she steps into her house.

"Whoa, back up, what the hell are you going on about?" Anthony growls. "Anthony, for once, just stay out of this. Your sister's disgusting behaviour is embarrassing to me and your entire family. Have you for once thought about what this is doing to your poor mother? This is not the way she raised you."

"And what disgusting behaviour are you referring to?" Anthony asked, glancing at his mother, who was gazing out the window, her back to them.

"Do you have any idea where your sister was today? No? Alright, I'll tell you. I mean, it's not as if she would willingly tell you about her secret hook up sessions with that man, in that disgusting place, a place that was shot up today, might I add." David sneers coldly.

"Zoey, go to your room." Anthony orders. "But..." "Grown people are talking, now, move." He growls, pointing toward her room. Zoey got up and, with a huff, stormed off to her room. "Now, who the hell told you all this?" Anthony asks in a deadly tone. "No one...I..."

"You what?" Anthony demands after a few moments went by without David saying anything. "Did you see her there? Did you catch them in the act?" "No...I....I heard people talking about it on the streets." David grumbles. "Oh, and you were so quick to believe them, right? To the point where you would bring this rubbish to my mother's ears."

"It's not rubbish; admit it, Liah. admit your sins, tell them where you were, and don't forget that a lying tongue is an abomination to the Lord." David's condescending tone made her blood boil with anger. "I have no idea as to what you're going on about, David." Liah snorts.

"Of course you don't. So where were you then, huh? Please share because you weren't at work." "And how would you know that?" Anthony demand. "Because I went there, and they said that she didn't show up for work." "The both of you aren't even together anymore, so why are you going to her place of work? And why does she owe you any explanation?"

"Because these people have no reason to lie, so what they were saying must be true." "Really? You're such an idiot. Are you forgetting where you live? People around here make up stories far worse than this just for the hell of it."

"Anthony is right, besides, Liah isn't the type to do what they're saying she did." Her mother states in a defensive tone, folding her arms across her bust.

"That is what I thought at first too, but they also said that it wasn't hard for those men to follow them because it wasn't their first time meeting there." David sneers, standing his ground.

"Oh, so what you're saying is that not only is my sister a liar, she is also a loose woman?" Anthony asks, pulling his gun from his waist. "Look, all I'm saying is..." "Stop talking." Anthony's tone sends shivers down Liah's spine, and David clamps his mouth shut.

"Here you are, again, standing in my home, disrespecting my sister and upsetting my mother. Apologize, David, apologize to them now, this instant, or I swear I'll put a bullet in your head."

"Anthony!" His mother scowls, marching towards him. "Mama, I'm sorry for pulling my weapon inside the house, but this bastard just insulted my sister, and that I'll not stand for. now apologize." Anthony sneers through clenched teeth, cranking his gun.

"I...I'm sorry, I guess I was wrong. I shouldn't have believed what I heard." David says, his head down. "Good, now get out, and this time, don't come back. If I see your face in this house again, I will kill you." "Anthony!" "Mama, I know you have a certain level of respect for this jackass but trust me, Liah can do a lot better than him, and why are you still standing there? Get out!" Anthony barks, pointing towards the front door. Without another word, David storms towards the door, then stops.

"I can't pass your dogs." He said over his shoulder. "Idiot," Anthony grumbles, marching towards him. "So, since those people weren't telling the truth and you weren't at work, mind telling me where you were today?" Her mother asks.

"She was with me, Mama," Anthony says, entering the house. "I needed her help stitching up one of our men that got hurt." "She was with you since she left here this morning?" "Yes, mama, I stopped her while she was on her way to work and dragged her to the base."

"After what happened to her in that house, you would really take her back there?" His mother asks, slapping his chest hard. "I had no choice, Mama. I'm sorry." "Of course you had a choice, you could've chosen someone else to do your damn stitching." His mother huffs.

"The both of you are going to be the death of me." She grumbles, walking towards the kitchen. Anthony narrows his eyes at Liah and, without saying anything turns and storm from the house

"I bet you didn't protest much about going over there to assist him seeing as though Michael is still in charge over there." Her mother asks a few minutes later. "Well, not as much as I did when Anthony first dragged me there." Liah grumbles shuffling her feet, her eyes focus on the ground and her hands in her pockets.

"But...um...Moses isn't in charge over there any more, he stepped down, Anthony is in charge now." "Oh great, more bad news." Her mother huffs peeling the roast breadfruit more vigorously than was necessary.

Thank you all so much for reading

words of encouragement

long before Zaccheous could even see Jesus

the tree was already planted to meet his needs.

Riddle form the last ch. What is more dangerous than pulling out a sharks tooth?"

Ans: Giving a porcupine a back rub. Ouch, yeah, I won't be doing that.

Alright my lovelies, here is another What's a lazy man's favourite shoe? Good luck guys.