Held Captive By A Ruthless Love: Tru & Halo

By Charmanie Saquea

Tru Richardson is the reigning king of Memphis. He has the money, power, and the respect with a reputation of being ruthless and callous. Being raised off of pure survival and not love, Tru doesn’t let anyone outside of his brothers get next to him. After unfortunate circumstances bring the young, gentle and beautiful Halo into his life, Tru is suddenly smitten but doesn’t know how to handle it. Will Tru’s harsh ways push Halo away?



Polo is the middle child of Memphis’s infamous Rich Brothers. Being the calmer one of the trio, Polo loves to live a private life. That means keeping everything on the low, including his dealings with the sassy and headstrong Britain. Once Britain starts requiring more from Polo, will he get his act together? Or will his pride and refusal to commit cause him to lose what could possibly be the best thing to ever happen to him?


• Language: English
• Publisher: Royalty Publishing House
• Release date: Jun 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781648407772

Book preview

Halo

I f you fuck with me, I’ll take your man! Ayeee!

I was having too much fun dancing around my apartment in nothing but a cami and some boy shorts. Or as my girl Adina Howard would put it, t-shirt and my panties on. I was supposed to be getting ready to go out with my big cousin Britain, but I couldn’t find anything to wear. It wasn’t as if I didn’t have options because I definitely did, and that was the problem. My boyfriend Romeo had just ‘came up,’ as he liked to put it, and taken me on a shopping spree.

I usually wasn’t into street dudes, especially considering the fact that I was majoring in criminal justice. I had heard many horror stories about how street niggas were no good. They had bitches by the boatload, and brought nothing but drama. This, that, and the third. So, as you can imagine, I steered clear from them all. I planted my head in the books and really didn’t pay these niggas no attention at all, but Romeo was different.

I took a chance on him because we grew up together. Him, Britain, and me. That was until tragedy struck his family and he moved away our freshman year of high school. His mother was killed and he was sent to live with his father in another state. He just recently came back to Memphis two years ago and that’s when we hit it off.

We had always flirted, and he would always tell me how we were going to be together one day, but I never took him seriously. Romeo had never been ugly; he just wasn’t that cute either back then. But babyyy, let me tell you, when he came back home to Memphis, he came back a totally different person.

He was no longer skinny with braids; he now had a nice build with dreads that hung down his back. He honestly put me in the mind of the rapper Ace Hood. Just sexy all around.

Any who, like I was previously saying, Romeo had hit a come up. He came home all excited one day, telling me about how things were going to be different for us now that he was going to be bringing a lot more money in. It wasn’t like he was broke or anything, but I guess in his mind, he hit a gold mine or something. He was talking about moving out of Memphis and everything. I don’t know about all that, but I would save that conversation for a later date.

The sounds of the City Girls coming through my Beats speaker was replaced by the sound of Britain’s ringtone that I had specifically for her. I already knew she was calling to make sure that I was getting dressed since I was always late, let her tell it. I walked out of my closet to answer the phone when I damn near had a heart attack.

Ahhhhh! I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I tried to run back into the closet where I knew Romeo kept a gun or two, but that clearly was a mistake on my behalf. One of the two unknown men that were standing in my bedroom snatched my little ass up while the other flashed his own gun at me.

That wouldn’t be a bright idea, baby girl, he said eerily, sounding like something straight out of a scary movie.

Pl-please don’t-don’t hurt me. I don’t have any-any money. I was struggling to get a damn sentence out because that’s just how damn scared I was.

Hmm, looks like you got some type of money, he said as he eyed the Birkin Bag Romeo had just purchased for me two days ago. Where that bitch Romeo at? he sneered.

Romeo? They’re here for Romeo?

He-he—

Hurry the fuck up! I don’t have all night to be fucking around with you! he barked.

If this big burly nigga wasn’t gripping me up right now, I probably would’ve jumped out my skin. Instead, I released a stream of piss down my damn legs. He had officially succeeded in scaring the piss out of me.

He’s out of town on business, I quickly got out.

Whap!

Bitch did you just piss on me?

The whole right side of my face went numb and there was a ringing sound in my ear from the vicious slap he had just blessed my ass with.

Chill the fuck out nigga! the one with the creepy voice growled as he pulled his phone from his pocket.

As he called whomever he was calling, I thought of all the many different ways I was going to cuss Romeo out for this one if I made it out alive. He had promised that he would never put me in harm’s way due to his street dealings, yet here I was, caught in the middle of his shenanigans.

He’s gone boss. Negative, he said as his eyes darted around the room before landing on me with a glare. Affirmative. Consider it done. With little to nothing being said, he hung up.

Consider what done? Oh my God, they’re about to kill me.

She’s coming with us, he said.

Hearing that, I suddenly got a lick of courage and my defense mechanism started to kick in. I tried to get away from this big ass nigga, but the death grip he had on me made it damn near impossible.

Chill the fuck out fo’ I ring yo’ got damn neck, he spewed at me.

That certainly made me get some act right because I believed he would do it to. Especially with those huge ass hands he had. Giving up the fight, I burst into tears. This was it. This was the end. I was on my way to be with the Lord at the fresh age of twenty-three. This wasn’t how I planned to go out; not that I had planned my own death or anything.

Mane, shut the fuck up and go wash yo’ ass real quick. I’m not putting you in my shit and you pissy, the nicer one of the two told me.

The big ass meanie released the hold he had on me and I wasted no time rushing to the bathroom. I tried to shut the door but before I could, it was flung back open.

Can I get some privacy? I asked.

You ain’t got shit we ain’t never seen before. You seen one pussy, you seen ‘em all. Leave this fucking door open so I can kill you if you try some funny shit, he said with nothing but ice dripping from each syllable.

Swallowing the huge lump in my throat, I nodded as I did like I was told and left the bathroom door open. I knew they weren’t going to allow me to take a shower, so I grabbed my washcloth and dove body wash to take a quick birdbath. I peeled my wet boy shorts off me, shooting my eyes outside my bathroom door. Neither one of them had their eyes on me and I sighed in relief a little to know they weren’t perverts. That let me know that my chances of being sexually assaulted were slim to none.

Quickly washing up, I grabbed a pair of black leggings I had in my bathroom and threw them on. I wanted to put some panties on but I was way too terrified to walk past these scary looking men, so I was going to have to suck it up.

About damn time, the big one growled at me when I came out of the bathroom.

I just kept my head down, not saying anything and damn sure not making eye contact. There were some furry slides by my closet door, so I slid my feet into them.

Let’s go.

The one who did all the talking lead the way with me in the middle and mean ass brought up the rear. I didn’t feel comfortable with him walking behind me, for obvious reasons, but I damn sure wasn’t going to speak on it. He led us outside to a black truck. I etched in my memory that it was a Cadillac Escalade as I started thinking of my escape plan.

Just as I was about to make a run for it, I was knocked upside the head and everything went black.

Tru

My eyes stayed stagnant on the security system that showed this chick laying on a bed in one of the rooms in my basement. Finally pulling my eyes away for a millisecond, I glanced at the Rolex on my wrist.

She’ll be waking up pretty soon.

I didn’t have time to wait for soon to get here though. She had already been knocked out in my shit long enough and I was ready to get down to business. Leaving my office, I made my way to the kitchen. I grabbed a big ass bowl before making my way to the stainless-steel refrigerator to put some ice in it, and fill it up with water.

I took the stairs that led to the basement, walking straight past my man cave to the room she was in. I opened the door, shaking my head at the pitiful sight before me.

I tossed the whole bowl of cold ass water on her face. She jumped up frantically. She probably thought she was drowning or something.

Wake the fuck up! my voice boomed.

She looked around the room like she was trying to figure out where she was, but when her eyes fell on me, she paused. Her mouth went agape but she didn’t say anything. I snatched her up by the thin ass shirt she was wearing that was now soaked.

Where the fuck is Romeo? I bellowed out.

Her lip quivered with fear as she tried to speak. She said something, but I wasn’t about to strain my damn ear to figure out what it was.

Speak the fuck up! I barked.

I-I don’t know, she stammered.

Removing my gun from my waistline, I shoved it under her chin so she would know that I wasn’t fucking playing with her ass.

Look bitch, I will decorate this fucking room with yo’ brain matter if you don’t tell me where the fuck that nigga at.

By now, tears were falling from her eyes like a rainstorm in April. She even had snot running out her nose, but I still wasn’t moved. I had no sympathy or empathy for her ass and would have no reservations about killing her right here and right now.

I promise you I don’t know where he is. He left two days ago, said he was going away on business and told me he would be back in a few days. He never tells me where he goes on business because he said the less I know the better. I swear to God I’m not lying. She broke down.

I believed her so I removed my gun. I had read the text messages in her phone that I was given, so I knew she didn’t know his whereabouts, but I still had to see if I could get something out of her. Reaching in my pocket, I pulled her phone out, tossing it to her.

Call him, was all I said.

She quickly picked up the phone to call him. She had put the phone on speaker, but I snatched it up because I didn’t ask her to do all that. Taking it off speaker, I placed it to my ear while it rang two more times before this bitch nigga answered.

Baby you—

You got a total of twenty hours to return my shit or this bitch will be turned into maggot food, I said, meaning every word I said.

Tru, man, why you—

Twenty hours.

Not wanting to hear shit else this nigga had to say, I hung up the phone on him. She sat there on the bed boohooing like a fucking newborn baby and the shit was irritating.

You better hope he returns my shit for your sake, I told her as I left out the room.

I don’t know who this nigga Romeo thought he was, or if he was really that fucking bold to think he could steal from me and get away with the shit. This nigga had the audacity to be splurging on him and his bitch with the money he stole from me. The nigga knew who I was and how I got down so I was really appalled that he thought he could get away with it.

It amazed me how you could put a nigga on and put him in a position to be something in life then they start getting greedy. I had brought this nigga into my shit because his cousin vouched for him. He gave me his word that the nigga Romeo was a real, solid, money getting ass nigga and I wasn’t going to have any problems out of him. Now I was going to have to kill that nigga Romeo and his cousin for fucking lying to me.

When I made my way back up the stairs, I could hear my loud ass, ignorant ass brothers in my kitchen. I walked over to my baby brother Veli, snatching the bag of chips out his hand.

You ain’t bring a muthufuckin’ grocery up in here, I sneered at him.

From the looks of it, you didn’t either, my brother Polo said as he looked in my refrigerator and cabinets. Where the fuck is the food, Tru? You just got this shit in the kitchen for decorations, he said while holding up one of my stainless-steel pots.

I just sucked my teeth as I made my way back to my office with Beavis and Butthead following right behind me.

Who that? Veli asked as he used his head to point at the security system.

"Romeo’s