Lethal Legacy

Lethal Legacy

Ryan sat confused and annoyed in the lobby of her university student aid office wondering what was so important that she needed to leave her class presentation that she had been eager to present for over a month. Just when she begun to consider ditching the request to meet with her student advisor, Chelsea popped her head out of her office door, Thanking Ryan for her patience and waving her in. Ryan was greeted by a tall thin man who introduced himself as an estate attorney for her Uncle Christopher Lorenzo, much of what he was saying begin to fade out after his introduction stating, “I’m sorry for the loss of your uncle, he has strictly mandated no services or public acknowledgement of his death” Very confused Ryan thought back to her last interaction with her Uncle.

They were laying over a rocky cleft with their scope targeted on a family in the valley below. Ryan was angry that she allowed herself to be bullied into such a situation, she was frustrated at her uncle’s refusal to leave her out of his crime filled, sinister career. Their whispered debate growing more and more volatile. “You said all I had to do was set up your site, you said I didn’t have to kill anyone!”, her uncle leaned in grunting between clinched teeth “Ry, I can’t kill an entire family one at a time, I need 4 quick shots, they have to drop at the same time or we will risk the execution, Ryan was disgusted at how he spoke about humans as if they were bowling pins on game night. She looked down through her scope at the family setting up their camping gear. Two teens mulling through tasks playfully engaging one another. A mother hanging partially out her jeep giving direction and taking in the coming sunset. The father, hard & stiff going back & forth with the teens his hands moving more than his mouth, he would have made Ryan laugh under normal circumstances, but these circumstances were no laughing matter, she knew she couldn’t bring herself to kill an entire family. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears as she laid belly down with a tactical scope rifle in hand, her uncle laying still as the snake he was right beside her. Her aim locked perfectly on the beautiful woman hanging out of her jeep and her young daughter pitching the tent, Her uncle begin to count down, her heart beat grew louder almost louder then her uncle’s aggressive tone. The fear that was growing up her back wasn’t in killing this family it was in disobeying her uncle. Razor, as her uncle was better known, had his hooks in Ryan & she feared him but her determination mirrored his own, she knew that the more she killed with him the deeper she would sink into her uncles world. Razor was down to one in his countdown, his fingers already pulling back on his rifle triggers, Ryan jumped up, throwing her rifles over the cliff and running as fast as she could. Ryan knew she was done, she was done with her uncle, she was done with this life & nothing would anchor her to Razor ever again.

Razor was an elite marksman and a viscously invisible hitman for major crime cartels, mafia families & notorious crime families & organizations all across the world. He was raised on the tough streets of Chicago by pimps, thieves and dealers. He was intelligent, groomed by the hands of deception, greed & violence. He had grown from a low place and created for himself a very high place where he needed nothing…except an heir. Part of Razors success was that he never feared mortality in fact he anticipated it often, his biggest fear was building what he had built and having it die with him. After having three daughters Razor grew jealous and diabolical in discovering that his little brother was expecting his first son. Ryan would be the key to eternity for razor, and men like Razor were never granted eternity. Razor plotted; he manipulated & orchestrated a plan that would allow him to take on his awaited nephew as his own.

His horrid plan worked like a charm, until the infant delivered to him, was actually a girl. Furious and resentful he sent the infant away. For twelve years Ryan was on her own, though she grew up in the best boarding schools’ money could buy she longed for a family, she dreamt of a family of her own, the ones she read about, the ones she obsessed over while watching her weekend sitcoms. Razors guilt would guide him often to check in on the girl, making sure she had the amenities she needed in life, the classes the trainings the wellbeing. Everything changed when he received a pamphlet from the boarding school honoring the girl. She was brilliant, she was at the top of her class in fencing, all academics, horseback riding, cyber intelligence & most importantly she was undefeated in the lead ranking for excellent marksmanship. In that moment it hit Razor that he had an heir after all. Ryan was so elated to have found that she had family and they wanted her, they had looked for her and sent for her. What she thought was a dream come true was nothing but the puppeteered nightmare of Razor Lorenzo. Ryan arrived to a mansion, cold & incredible. Her uncle stood tall & powerful at the entrance doors of the mansion. Razor couldn’t believe what that tiny little baby he turned away at that very door had grown into. Ryan was beautiful, she was poised, her eyes were serious and strong. Razor knew that there wasn’t a better person in the world to carry on his legacy. Ryan met her new home with great disappointment, there were no baked cookies, no warm and beautiful mother, no excited siblings to share and laugh with. There was just this man, this calculated and pushy man. Who spoke to her in cold demands & ridiculous standards. Razors every move was grooming Ryan into the untouchable criminal mastermind he knew she would effortlessly become. He was met with great resistance year after year after year. Ryan bucked, she rebelled, she sabotaged, everything she could think of she did to get her uncles hooks out of her. But there was no one more determined than Razor. For a man like him, his Legacy would be the only thing worth all he’d done to get where he was. His daughters while, fierce and powerful, were spoiled, slimy and in his opinion low grade criminals, he never saw them capable of the precision needed to expand his wealth and influence. They were raised by their mother, a woman he loved to hate & in his opinion his daughters were dollar hungry and blood thirsty, but not Ryan she was innately skilled, incredibly tuned with a mind that exceeded the capabilities of most children. Ryan was Razors best bet & biggest challenge yet.

Ryan sat before the attorney, pressing a sad look on her face, struggling to yield the relief and joy racing through her body, at the mere thought of finally being free, free from the death grip of her uncle. The attorney handed her a small black book, she looked up at him confused, “In conclusion Ms. Lorenzo, your inheritance will be allotted to you in installments, the details to your deposits are listed herein should you choose to follow the instructions of your Uncle. ”Instructions!” Ryan caught herself realizing that her faint attempt at expressing sorrow would surely be compromised by the infuriating thought of her uncles’ control from the grave. She tucked the book into her bag & requested instructions from her advisor on bereavement leave during the semester. After completing all necessary paperwork she made a beeline to her sanctuary.

She banged frantically on the apartment door, He slung the door open & there he was her safe space her knight, his deep eyes always concerned and fixed on her. She melted into him, “What’s going on babe, What’s wrong?” “I’m free” she exclaimed, shutting and locking the door behind her. Eric was so confused he took her purse and her coat & tried to make sense of the frantic banter coming out of her, was she excited, was she afraid? He couldn’t discern. He did what he always did when her brain took over like this, he pulled her close, kissed her deeply. His voice deep & guiding, it slowed her, brought to earth right in the center of his living room, cradled between his hands, his eyes requesting a focus that only he could get from Ryan. She slowed her thoughts; her words followed and met his attention. “My uncle died Eric, I got an email to my phone to meet Chelsea in her office for an emergency, there was an attorney there who explained all this craziness about my uncle’s death & his wishes and my inheritance. He gave me this book & said my inheritance details were inside, but I’m free babe, I’m finally free of his insanity.” She reached around to her book bag on the sofa and pulled out the black book, her banter was back she paced around the sofa listing all the things her future could be now, Eric slid the book from her hands, “There’s a lock here babe on the book”. Ryan looked down in his lap, he was right there was a flat digital lock requiring some type of electronic code & Ryan new right away what the entry number would be “Try 304324” her eyebrows were squinched but her voice was certain so Eric punched in the numbers one at time clearing one after the other, the box blinked white and then released the clasp holding the book boarders, Ryan released her breath, “How did you know that babe!”, Ryan rolled her eyes “They were my peek range scores for the rifle & pistol, they were his code for everything, even he couldn’t beat those scores, he always said that some parents had bumper stickers but he had 304 & 324”. Ryan went on expressing her disdain for his joy in such things, walking back & forth purging her soul of the prison of Razor. She noticed Eric’s pause and slow gaze toward her from the pages of the book, she stopped in her tracks, “What?...” He’s leaving you $4,000 plus”, Ryan was confused “Plus?” Eric continued, his voice lower than before, “$4,000 per person you kill on this hitlist & you can only expect a deposit per obituary” Ryan’s eyes were big, thoughts weren’t gathering in order, “No no no no no” was all she could manage, she snatched the book, she flipped frantically repeating over & over “No no no no” Razor was determined to make her him? His death grip still present beyond the grave.

Ryan toiled all night flipping thoughts and solutions around and around in her mind. College was always Ryans way out of the grips of Razor, her own money, her own future, a means to her own family. Her biggest dream was to be an accomplished career woman, living happily ever after with Eric their dogs and their quiet suburban house, where nothing crazy ever happened, college meant this could happen, she wouldn’t need her uncle’s money. She couldn’t let college go & with razor gone so went her tuition, she had to get this inheritance, she deserved it, Razor had been tampering with her life since conception and here he still was tampering with her future. Ryan read through the black book at least twenty times that night, trying to link the names on this list, trying to find a loophole. She pulled out her laptop, investigating each person well into dawn, she referenced, she read, she noted. What Ryan pulled together was literally a breadcrumb trail to the murder of Diamond Rose Hemlock!

Diamond Rose was the mother of Razors daughters. A social lite & Queen pen who ran the crime circle of drugs and escorts for political figures and celebrities throughout the entire Midwest. She was born into wealth but chose the grime. Her father a wealthy and influential political figure had paraded his daughter around her entire childhood, exploiting her beauty and controlling her every move. At the tender age of fifteen Diamond left the cushy control of her narcissistic parents to find her own way. Diamond started out dancing and hustling but quickly rose to the top of the game. She ran a fierce fempire while raising three strong daughters totally prepared to thrive as the big dog in any dog-eat-dog scenario. There wasn’t a bigger shot caller in the entire city, that is until Diamond was found murdered a year ago in her penthouse suite. Not being a friend of the law, very little effort was put into Diamonds case, her case was discarded before she was even buried, leaving rage & revenge in the hearts of her daughters til this very day. And until this very moment there was no clue for anyone regarding Diamonds murder. What Ryan uncovered pointed straight to Razor being Diamonds murderer. She was frozen in this revelation; Razor had arranged a hitlist that would destroy any living connection to this truth. Almost immediately it hit Ryan that she needed to work with each person on the list, urge them to fake their deaths for a cut of the money and preserve the truth that Razor was so desperate to cover even in his death. Ryan jumped out of bed, she had to tell Eric in person her plan to get the money, save lives & families & to destroy the one thing her uncle truly cared about, his legacy.

As Ryan went to knock on Eric’s door, she noticed it was already ajar. She confusingly nudged forward. The apartment was in normal order, nothing out of place just a weird opened front door, it wasn’t like Eric, he was very cautious, he knew Ryan’s lifestyle and was very intentional about protecting her and himself. Ryan headed toward his bedroom calling out to him. When she approached the room he appeared to be laying asleep under the covers. Ryan was relieved, maybe his night had been as long as hers. She slipped off her shoes and slowly begin to slide into the bed behind him just as she scooted toward his pillow she noticed a pool of blood beneath his shoulder, she snatched the covers back and Eric was cold & stiff, one clean single bullet hole to his temple, almost invisible at first glance. Ryan couldn’t even bring herself to scream, her confusion was choking her. She rushed around to the front of Eric’s body his eyes were closed, he looked sound asleep, Ryan knew all too well what kind of kill this was, but still couldn’t make sense of who or why. She battled herself with calling the police, if she was apart of a murder investigation right now, it would ruin her entire plan to secure her money, but look at him laying lifeless, her beautiful shining Eric, her future, her happily ever after, Ryan grabbed her phone, she couldn’t just leave Eric there to be discovered “someday”, she had to do right by him & his family. Just as she unlocked her screen a text came through from a private number, Ryan opened to a series of numbers “304324”, the scream that couldn’t find its way to her earlier surely found its way then, she ran to the windows in Erics room, looked under the bed, shoved through his closet. Razor was alive, he was watching her he was somewhere taking joy in her torture. Ryan grabbed her shoes and ran to her car. Tears almost racing her there, what was happening? Why would Razor lie, why would he kill Eric? Is he going to kill her?

Ryan knew she needed more than a scam, she needed back up, she needed protection. It would take family to beat family. She needed the Lethal Lorenzo sisters. Ryan arranged a meeting with her estranged cousins, if ever it were time to be family now was it.

Ryan pulled up slowly to a desert mansion, she checked the address in her phone again, the mansion looked so unlived in, so destitute. Suddenly the garage door opened standing at its edge was her cousin Sasha, Sasha was as rough and rugged as ever, army fatigues, tank top and combats, it was as if time had stood still. Sasha was Razor’s middle daughter, truly the closest thing he had to a son, she was rough, loud, profane, hot tempered, trigger happy and a hustler with a capital H. Sasha had her hand in every dirty money gamble from sea to shining sea, Ryan fought a smirk and leaned out of the car instead.

“Mercedes said to meet you guys here?’ Sasha put her boot on the hood of Ryan’s car, “Yeah Princess you far from home, but you with family now, cut your car off, we in here. Ryan followed her into the garage. It was set up like a mechanic shop, cars everywhere, oil on the ground, Ryan was so confused as to why they would think this was a good meeting spot. Sasha was leading her to what looked like a small, enclosed office at the back of the garage. As she got closer, she could hear whimpering, Sasha opened the door and there was a young man tied, gagged & beaten very badly to the office chair. Lordes was standing over him whispering something into his ear, whatever it was really broke him down. Lordes was the baby. She was stunning, hypnotizing even. Quiet and addicted to power. She loved the game of it all, she wants she gets, she hurts, they scream, she doesn’t like they disappear. She was a snake charmer in a small but deadly frame. Mercedes sat on top of the desk behind the whimpering man. Her demeanor was as if she was ordering another martini at a lady’s luncheon, “Des, why you always gotta play with them, just get it over with, I swear if you get blood on my manolos cause you wanna play!” This scene was all too familiar for Ryan, she had walked into a page straight out of Razor’s book, she turned to leave “You squeamish Ry?, Not Razors pride & joy” Mercedes taunted, “Look this is not what I came here for” ,Ryan snapped back. Ryan moved forward still, “You said you needed US, remember?” Mercedes words caught her, she was right, Ryan really needed them.

Mercedes was always right. Mercedes was the oldest child of Razor & Diamond Rose, she was the perfect combination of the two, she was pampered and cutthroat, she put the B in boss and the B in less flattering words as well, but she could run any major operation in her sleep. Mercedes was the ultimate mini me when it came to the power, grace, beauty and sharpness of her mother. Ryan slowly turned to them. “Y’all are my family, you’re all I have, all I’ve ever had, I’m in a serious situation right now, I have nowhere to turn”. The sisters sent a look around the room to one another, Mercedes gave a slight nod, Lordes said something down to the young man, a phrase in which Ryan recognized to be Italian, then she cut his ties, Mercedes stood rubbing her hands as if she was dusting them “Sasha, send him home, Ryan, follow us into the house”. Inside the house was beautiful but definitely too plain for any of the sisters to actually live in, she wondered why they would bring her out to a dummy house, her thoughts were interrupted by Sasha’s loud return, she was ending a conversation on her phone. Ryan went right in, she had as much excitement as she was prepared to deal with today. “Razor has faked his death in order to get me to do some dirty work for him, he has a list of five people he wants murdered” she pulled out a list she had typed up profiling each of the people. “Razor needing help with a hitlist?” Sasha said handing the paper to Mercedes, “These people are all linked to me in a very weird situation, but he wants me to kill them to tie me into some madness, the point is I don’t want to kill them but Its’ the only way to get the money I need to finish school, he’s releasing $4,000 to me per body every time one is gone” Lordes scrunched her face “We’re working our behinds off to keep Ma’s money flowing since she’s been gone and he’s playing with you to GIVE you money, a job we actually can do?” Mercedes interrupted Lordes “Wait we know some of these people”. “To your point Lordes” Ryan attempted to distract “I want to give you all half per body to help it look like these people are gone. “Look Like? Sasha questioned, “Yes look like, stage their deaths” Ryan replied, Sasha burst out in laughter “Where’s the fun in that?” “The fun is in also having my back, because Razor is trying to kill me” Ryan replied, “Not the golden child, his legacy” Lordes said cynically motioning air quotes, that even shocked Mercedes “Her face obviously trying to connect dots “Why would he want to kill you & give you money?” Ryan was trying very hard not to lose their support but was struggling on what to say and what to omit, “I don’t know why he would want to kill me, I messed up a hit awhile back maybe that’s why, I don’t know but he sent someone out to my campus to make it very clear that he’s not happy with me!” Mercedes walked toward Ryan, touching her face lovingly, “We got you, we’ll need full payment between bodies, we will ensure your safety, but we won’t kill our Father Ry, I mean we’re not monsters, Mercedes looked toward Sasha with a smirk “Well not all of us” the women all begin to laugh. Ryan unrolled her plan, “I met last week with all the people on that list, they are all going to work with us, I have plane tickets, new identities and passports for them all, even printed obituaries I just need all their murders to look real so that they’re publicized, I need y’all to take their blood, hair, skin fingernails and whatever else y’all need to create their deaths”. The sisters seemed impressed by Ryan’s plan “Easy money” Sasha joked. Ryan was ready to get this over with.

Sasha was squirting gasoline around Mr. Andes apartment, Mr. Andes was a chauffeur for the higher ups, and the latest lucky number on Razors hitlist, Ryan and her cousins had just set up his janky home invasion turned murder and blotchy fire cover up. Mr. Andes was long gone by now on his way to his new life in Cuba, the women were putting the final touches on his crime scene and were waiting on Lordes to bring in the blood bags that they had been preserving. Lordes fell into the apartment door just as the woman were beginning to complain about their timeframe plotted out clearly in the outline of this mission. Lordes was holding her arm, grimacing and out of breath, “Oh my goodness what happened?” Ryan asked, the women were all shocked, “After I picked the blood up from the downtown office, I realized I was being followed by a tan BMW, so I drove down to our old chop shop, cause I knew that side of town was a ghost town and no would be going that way, the car went all the way there, trying to stay discreet but couldn’t once the streets got emptier and emptier. When I got to the chop shop I got out, guns drawn, just wanted to spook the person out of the car, as I walked up on the car the driver never budged and just as I approached the window someone jumped up from the back of my car trying to light me up, the car in front of me sped off, and it was just me and the shooter from my car, when a bullet grazed my shoulder I fell out and played hit, the person stopped shooting and drove off with my car. I had to walk to 26th street and then catch a cab here. Somebody just thought they killed me!” Sasha hit the ceiling, she was all types of belligerent throwing threats out in the air and dang near foaming at the mouth. Mercedes turned to Ryan, “Ry, we told you we wouldn’t kill our father, you’re on your own now, clearly he wants you, since Lordes was driving your car & a mistake like that would leave us no choice but to kill him. We want the money from this mission and we’re out, this is between you and him.

They all dropped their supplies and headed for the door, Ryan was petrified, she needed the last two missions to collect the final amounts and couldn’t imagine who Razor had after her, because he wasn’t a grazer. She yelled to their backs, “Razor killed your mother, why would you care about killing him” They turned hard almost simultaneously, Sasha rushed up on Ryan, gun to her head “What did you just say?” Ryan lifted her hands “It’s true, it’s all mapped out in the book he sent me, it’s why Mr. Andes looked so familiar to you Mercedes, and the jeweler to you Sasha, they were all possible loose ends to your mother’s death, they could identify Razor in circumstances & timeframes that would indicate him, that’s why he’s making me kill them, I just didn’t want to hurt you guys, but your dad has to go. “Mercedes looked to Sasha; we have to find him. And whoever shot at my baby sister today, we have a hitlist of our own now. Ryan was afraid to breathe the tension was thick in the room, the women were hurt, angry and ready to blow but she could tell they believed her, she needed to get the rest of that money and stop Razor before he stopped her for good.

The sisters put all of their resources into finding Ryan’s car to get some answers to the shooter helping Razor as well as of course Razor himself. Ryan finished the last two missions herself, she attempted backtracking the deposits to her account but found that they were automatic installments released by the attorney, and was at a dead end with finding Razor, she was beginning to think she would have to fake her own death to get her Uncle off her trail. She was just mailing in her last obituary when she got a call from Mercedes saying they had found her car in the driveway of an affluent neighborhood in Buffalo Grove. She couldn’t understand why Razor would hide out so obviously and in the suburbs of all places, but she jumped in her rental and headed to the address. Ryan was even more confused when she arrived, she could tell her cousins were already inside, Sasha’s truck was outside & the car in the driveway was definitely hers, She walked right in the front door, the house was exquisitely decorated with family pictures on the mantle, what was going on, there was no way they were in the right place, Ryan could hear voices beneath her and followed them down to the basement, when she reached the bottom stairs she saw that A woman had a gun drawn to Mercedes back, Mercedes hands were raised and both Sasha & Lordes had guns pointed in their direction. When the mysterious woman saw Ryan her eyes lit up “You, I thought I killed you” Ryan walked slowly around her cousins and drew her gun, the woman before her was so familiar, Ryan’s mind was racing, then it hit her it was Rebecca Rubio the beautiful woman hanging out of the jeep at the camping site. Razor had spent so much time planning the Rubio family murders that Ryan could name each one of them. “Mrs. Rubio, I don’t know why we are here or what’s going on, we’re not looking for you we’re looking for my uncle”, Rebecca was a mess running mascara and venom, “I’m looking for you Ryan, yeah I know you, number 304324” Ryan was stunned “Did my uncle send you to kill me? “Rebecca started yelling “You killed my husband and my son, we found your gun not far from our camp site after they were shot in cold blood, I saw your number 304324 engraved in the side of your rifle, You’re sloppy Ryan your fingerprints led me straight to you and your punk boyfriend, Ryan could barely keep up with her thoughts when Lordes moved her gun toward Ryans head, “She wants you Ryan, we want you Ryan, it looks everyone wins today except for you” Ryan didn’t take her gun off Rubio, Rubio didn’t take her gun off Mercedes, Sasha styed aimed on Rubio, What do you mean you want me Lordes, You want your dad, stay focused” Lordes chuckled well I did get my dad, I walked right into his house and put a bullet in his cold heart, Ryan almost dropped her gun, you killed Razor?” her sisters faces were equally shocked, yes, as soon as I figured out on my own that the bastard killed my Mother, but you see Ryan he killed my mother because she was raising us to kill you, college saved your preppy behind but Razor still had to seal the deal, my mother was never going to let him train you to take over our world and he wasn’t going let his Legacy be a target. Ryan shifted her gun quickly from Rubio behind Mercedes to dead center of Mercedes skull. “Listen, I didn’t kill your son & husband my Uncle did, you found my gun because I aborted the mission and threw it” She then looked Mercedes dead in the eyes, call your sisters off, trust me my shot is sharper & quicker, if y’all did all this for the money, I’ll give you the entire last installment, but trust me Cede” Ryan’s eyes started watering, “I’m not dying here today, I can take this whole room out in seconds and you know it”. Mercedes was fuming, obviously confused and angry, she looked at her sisters, Rubio poked the gun in her back, staring deathly afraid at Sasha’s gun aimed right at her, Lordes cocked the hammer on her pistol…A scene straight out of the book of Razor.

THE END

Written By: Harmonie Brown

Coordinated By: Corey Gunnz