Big L's Arc

Chapter 4 of 6

Big L needed money by dawn, and by dawn he had it. Robbing Rob knew a man who moved weight cheap and fast. Rob made the call. The connection came through. Big L put his hundred soldiers on every corner he owned. The purple product moved before noon. Cash came back in fat rolls. By the end of the week, his soldiers ate better than they ever had under Dread. For the first time, the throne paid for itself. Big L counted stacks on his kitchen table. His mother sat across from him, sipping tea, gold rings on every finger. She looked at the money and did not smile. "Full corners make loud noise, baby," she said. "Loud noise carries." It carried to Dread. The man Big L had beaten and stripped of everything. Now Dread pulled up outside the house with twenty men, and he did not come alone. Beside him stood a huge man with long dreadlocks and a hard face. This was his father, Marcus Washington. People crossed streets to avoid that face. He had come looking for the man who took his son down. Big L heard the cars. He grabbed the gun from his waistband and stepped onto the porch. Rob came out behind him, fists ready. His soldiers spilled from the yard. Dread's father did not shout. He looked up at Big L with flat eyes. "You put my boy on his knees," he said. "Now I put you in the dirt." The first shot cracked the night. Then it all broke loose. Big L's hundred outnumbered Dread's twenty. His soldiers pushed them back across the yard. Rob swung a man off his feet. The pitbull tore into the crowd. Dread's men buckled and ran. His father dragged him toward the cars, blood on both of them. They lost, and they knew it. But a stray shot found the porch. Big L turned and saw his mother down. She had come out to pull him back inside. A bullet caught her in the shoulder. She sat against the door, one hand pressed to the wound, gold rings slick red. "Ma!" Big L dropped beside her. "I'm still here, baby," she said. Her voice was tight. "Ain't the first time." Rob knelt beside them. "She needs a doctor. Now." Big L pressed his hand over hers. He looked out at the empty yard. He had won. He had beaten Dread twice now. His corners ran gold and his crew stood strong. But his mother bled on the boards because of him. Something cold settled in his chest. Dread had run, but Dread would come back. And next time it would not be his mother's shoulder. Big L lifted her gently. "Get the car," he told Rob. "Then find me Dread. This ends. I'm done letting him breathe."