CERTIFIED BY KAMAH ALICIA SCOTT

 

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Below is a preview of  Kamah Alicia Scott’s  upcoming novel  CERTIFIED

By Kamah Alicia Scott

PROLOGUE
 
"You can lie to yourself but you can't lie to the Lord and when it's your turn, you will have to face the judgment."

Those were her nana's words on her deathbed. She died of smoke inhalation trying to save Sophie's little brother Rashad. Those words haunted Sophie. They were said as her mother walked out of her hospital room.

It all had seemed so surreal but the ring of the phone snapped her back into reality.

"No I'm not alone" she said with too much of stank attitude that he really didn't deserve. The thing was Sophie knew by now he had figured that she had taken the money. Sophie wasn't going to be stupid and see him again. Normally she was not this desperate. She had to do what I had to do; steal from one move on to play and take from the next. Her on-again off-again romance with nose candy turned into a full-blown affair.
"I need to talk to you about something" he said. Sophie could hear the lie in his voice and she could hear the anger behind his words. Sensing the tension and rubbing his neck that always tightened when he got angry, Riko tried to hide his intent with a fake promise. "I… mean, I have something for you, it's a surprise", Riko added.
"Riko, I would love to but the truth is, I'm a little busy and where I am right now, well I can't leave". A smile emerged on her face.  Her nana would be appalled and her mamma would be proud.   Sophie learned all of her conniving ways from her mama. This time, she was not careful though. Being sloppy about this one had led Riko to catch on too fast. . He wasn't supposed to catch on until next week when he made the drop. That's when he would have noticed he was out of a half of Kilo and ten thousand dollars.
Riko was big time. His boyish looks would fool most men in the streets. They would test him and end up with a broken limb, or worse dead. He didn't always shoot either. He enjoyed watching motherfuckers die slow and whenever the opportunity arose, he would opt to torture his victims. He reveled in their pain. He had a soft spot for young girls though and that's where he got loose in his game. He never respected young girls. Most of them were stupid and were happy with spending money, which didn't amount to much. Sophie faked naiveté, soaked up his routine and earned his trust. He left her in a room with money all over the bed a few times. She never touched it. She was focused. Sophie had a plan but that damn habit she owned wouldn't let her execute it properly.
"Look bitch! Don't get cute with me. You took my fucking stash and if you don't return it hoe, you as good as dead," he snarled. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she looked around the hotel room that she was in. She was shook due to his tone. Her body trembled with fear but she had to keep it together. Sophie had been running this game for four months out here in Chicago . It was time to be out. The plan was to usually stay about two months to give herself enough time to be seen in and out of clubs, get the notice she needed by the Balla's but Riko was supposed to have 100, 000 that night. All she wanted was 10%.   An extra week was worth it or so she thought. Besides, she reasoned in her head while listening to him berate her, he owed Sophie that much for the black eye. She received from him a week and a half ago. The kilo she could sell when she got to Philly, sniff some off the top, make profit off the rest, you know, keep herself afloat until I could find a sponsor. She was on her grizzy and being on the grind sometimes costs.
"Fi Fi, do you hear me talking to you?" Riko yelled into the receiver again. Her head was pounding and sweat was pouring down her back. the mantra repeated in Sophie's head. "I need to get high, pack a few things and bounce, get high and bounce, get high and bounce".   "I hear you Riko, give me about an hour, I'll be at Sugar Momma's kitchen sitting in the booth."
"No, you are going to tell me where you are, so I can come get my shit." He must think he was dealing with a dummy, she thought. Uh-uh,   Sophie wasn't getting rocked in Chicago and definitely not by the likes of Riko. He wouldn't see any money and the coke definitely wouldn't be part of his recovery effort.  

"Riko, I'm not going to lie to you, I'm on my way". She closed the pay-as-you go phone and grabbed what she could. Stealing a car would be nothing. Sophie would be at a bus station in no time. "Am I in over my head? What was I thinking, what was I thinking", Sophie muttered as she scrambled about trying to get it together. The sweat continued to pour and she held on to the wall promising not to fall over. She was overwhelmed and her appetite for that yayo needed to be quelled.

Although she was in a hurry, she knew that her body called for a hit. Though time was against her, Fi Fi   reached into the small black clutch that kept her business. She pulled out the sandwich bag that was wrapped in a shower cap. As she emptied the contents onto the flip mirror her hands trembled spilling some of the drug. It didn't matter, as much cake as she was going to make off Rikos stash, she could afford the spill.

She the sweat off her brow before bending down to snort the white powdery diamonds into each nostril. She hated when her sweat would fall into her work and fuck up the consistency. She rubbed her nose and sniffed again, tilting her head back this time trying to send the sensation directly to her brain. The numbness began and her heart began to race. She broke a nail holding on to edge of the hotel vanity. Squinting, Sophie began to feel the intensity of the effects of the Grade-A Columbian magic. The adrenaline was pumpin'. She was going to leave a lot of this shit behind. The two furs Riko copped her were   coming along for the ride.  Sophie viewed them as collateral. She would wear the cheap black rabbit fur she stole from Macy's and pull out the Chinchilla and fox fur for the real balla's . Sophie would first get reacquainted with Philly. She   wasn't big into the game there, she was too busy sneaking around with young thugs. Here in Chicago she remembered what she saw in her early years and took a crash course in getting money.

That's how Riko met her. He killed a prominent dealer that Sophie was trying to get in good with. There she was in her mini skirt, i, knee lambskin leather boots and Gucci blouse that she'd also lifted from the King of Prussia mall outside of Philadelphia right before she left. It was a two-day job for her. The dealer was Head. His name was given because of the size of his dome. If one didn't know better they could have confused him with having a mental condition. On top of that he was an ugly ass fucka'. He was trying to run game on her while Sophie was just trying to find a no bullshit connect where I could get high when I wanted without a tab. Head had no plans on giving Sophie a dime or anything more than a few lines to snort. As stunning as she was with her heart shaped lips, big round doe eyes and milk chocolate skin, he had seen it all before.

While sitting in Head's Bentley, he began rubbing her back with Sophie trying to look interested. Street corner intuition allowed her to peep Riko. Standing with eyes fixated on her, he put his finger to his lips to enforce her   silence. She was so afraid that she couldn't move, all that her body would allow her to do was stare into that handsome face and then to the finger that would soon pull the trigger. "You like that baby?" Head asked her. He was really working his fingers deep inside her pussy by this time. Sophie closed her eyes tight and began to lie to the Lord. She was asking him for forgiveness and if he spared her life, she would never touch this drug again. Bang! Followed by a series of Pops!. Head's eyes were wide open, his driver pretty much done. His head was half on the headrest and the other half was easily shared with the walls and the concrete of the sidewalk behind the abandoned warehouse. Some of his face was caught in Sophie's hair. She dared not make a move. Riko was always precise with is aim. He was a professional Hood Star. Not like the average cats in the streets. He always prided himself on his ability. He had been shooting since the age of six. That's why he chose to do this job by himself. He feared no man. Head had played him for a fool. This was easy for him and the silencer on the glock didn't hurt either.   Riko collected his personal debts in person. That's how he liked it.

Riko made his way to the Bentley, and yanked Sophie out of the car. He grabbed suitcases in the trunk while Sophie stood there motionless. She I dropped to her knees and began to pray, reciting the Hale Mary that she'd   learned from watching a movie with Catholic girls.

She was spared that night. Her body was shaking uncontrollably as she recalled the events of that night. Riko told her,   "If you ever cross me you can holla at his ass in hell.  You're beautiful, just lookin' at you makes my dick hard but you're not too pretty to die."

"Fuck it" Sophie said while making her first trip down the service elevator executing her final decision.   Creeping beside a 1996 Honda Accord and finding relief that the door was already unlocked. This made it so much easier for the task at hand. She scanned the parking garage, ducking when she saw a parking-attendant. She I pushed the small carryall bag in the back seat of the vehicle. It was decision time, she whispered to herself "Do I go back up and get the big one or do I say fuck it and leave Chicago with the dough I took and the bag. Nah, I had too much to leave everything."   She pulled her jeans and nonchalantly but with caution walked back up to the elevator closest to her newly appointed getaway car. She picked up some speed. She had to be fast, who knew when the owner would be back. Sophie was playing it cool; the high boosted her confidence as she glided past an attendant who tipped his hat in her direction admiring her beauty.

"Slow down there sweet cakes, … uhm! I mean sweet cheeks, Whew!!! " He nervously laughed. She gave a weak half-smile, keeping her head low but she did not verbally respond. That would have only led to an unwanted conversation.  

Opening the door to the room that she would soon abandon, she grabbed the roller-luggage and glimpsed in the mirror. "Shit!" her nose was bleeding. Quickly wiping it, she headed back down to the elevator. Something inside of her urged her to go the other direction.   She about faced and began walking faster. She noticed a few other guests but did not want to look suspicious. I made sure I didn't pick a low class motel to run in. Too many folks just like me doing dirt would be there. "Too many ants not enough picnics" like Sheedy said.

Her hands felt strange; she tried to make a fist to pull some strength. She pushed the down button leading back to the parking garage. An elderly woman was riding the elevator with her. It was odd being that she was decked out in an expensive fur and authentic Channel earrings. When the doors opened the old woman smiled, "There you are Charles", "Yes m'am" a middle-aged black man said in response to the old woman. His hand stretched out ready to take her small suitcase. Something about his voice rang familiar. Staring at the ground Sophie tried to keep walking, a good pace but not too fast.

Sophie could feel eyes on her. "Charles!! Where are you going?" she heard the old woman ask in bewilderment. Charles was following her.  Nervously, she  looked behind turned, "Hey, don't I know you?" He yelled at her. She didn't even answer instead; she continued to pull the roller with abated breath.

"It was Charlie "Beaver" Harris", he was a driver that supplied Riko with high-end customers, businessmen and celebrities that he drove for. I knew within minutes that he would be on the horn with Riko. I had to get out of there. I also knew that Beaver had been in that business for more than ten years and it was his legit meal deal. He couldn't leave that old woman who I now realized was the mother of a prominent police chief who was all about reforming the drug trafficking situation in Chicago .  Feeling bold as she watched Beaver reluctantly answer. I yelled, "take care now Beaver, tell Riko I said Hey.

"He snarled as the chief's mother asked, "Who is Beaver Charlie? And why did you run after that woman?"

Relaxing, although she knew she ought not, because she knew that as soon as that Muthafucka got in the ride, he would dial up Riko. There would be soldiers waiting at every corner of the hotel before Sophie could make it out. Fuck it; she was still going to sail out this bitch. Philly broads are built for the Hustle, North, South and West Philly taught a bitch well.

Sophie gingerly placed the suitcase in the back, pushing over the carryall bag, got my tools out of her clutch and sparked the wires. With the engine revved up. Sophie pulled out. Charlie was still walking with the chief's mom who obviously had gotten off the wrong elevator. He was on the phone, not looking at Sophie at all. She busted an illegal U –turn in the garage and made her way to the Greyhound station. "Shit!!! Cumberland would be too hot, I have to hit another station", Sophie said aloud. She was right. Riko was already at Cumberland waiting.