To Love to Destroy to Kill

By Lula Gray

Jewell had a great job with a great income. All she needed was a good man to share it with. Just as Jewel was about to say goodbye to all her dreams of marriage, she spots Mr. Smooth a.k.a. Aikeem Johnson Silverman at the barbershop across the street from her job. Mr. Smooth had all the things Jewel was looking for. He also had all the things she wasnt looking for. But all was going well until there was a murder, a burnt warehouse, and then a child.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524586775

Lula Gray

Lula Wilkerson was born and raised in central North Carolina where she currently resides. After graduating from Community College, she immediately started working for the government. After a brief and rocky marriage, Lula Wilkerson turned to writing to find comfort and peace.

Book preview

To Love

To Destroy To Kill

Lula Gray

Copyright © 2017 by Lula Gray.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017902964

ISBN: Hardcover     978-1-5245-8679-9

Softcover     978-1-5245-8678-2

eBook     978-1-5245-8677-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 03/21/2017

Xlibris

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Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Forty-Two

Forty-Three

Forty-Four

Forty-Five

Forty-Six

Forty-Seven

Forty-Eight

Forty-Nine

Fifty

Fifty-One

Fifty-Two

Fifty-Three

Fifty-Four

One

Wake up, Jewel. Wake up, Jewel. Wake up, Jewel. Do you hear me? I am your nurse, Sean. Open those beautiful eyes of yours. Oh, there you are. Your C-section went well, and you have a beautiful son. He weighs eight pounds and has ten fingers and ten toes. And his lungs work very well. You will have a chance to see him after we get you in a room in about an hour. But for now, you are in recovery, doing well.

* * *

It was early spring when Jewel first saw him on her way to work. He was across the street at the local barbershop. He was very nice-looking. It had been a while since she had seen this much beauty in a man. Then she noticed his smooth style of dress. An upscale dress that was almost too much for a barbershop.

Very eager to say something to him but too shy, Jewel just kept walking into the building to get to work.

She worked through all the mounds of paperwork at her desk where she was the assistant to the CEO of the largest pharmaceutical drug company. The CEO, Bruce Abernate, was always traveling and leaving work for her to do—work that should have been done by him. But despite all the work she had in front of her, she just couldn’t keep her mind off the man she saw that morning. To her, he was called Mr. Smooth.

She had her share of men who always led her down the wrong path of life and always cheated on her. First, there was Mr. Sports Car. This kind of man had a sports car to drive all his girlfriends around in. Then there was Mr. No Car. This man had no kind of car to drive at all. Not even his mother’s car. Then there was Mr. I-Know-I-Am-Fine. Then there was Mr. Married. In fact, there were three of them that came back to back. Yes, they would remove the wedding band for a temporary divorce. And now here was Mr. Smooth. She wanted to get to know him, his name, his wife’s name (if there was one), and all his children’s names.

Her mind went flying and didn’t stop until she got at the chapel, saying I do to her secretary, Mrs. Jones.

Oh, Mrs. Jones, please forgive me. I do think bagels with cream-cheese spread, juice, and coffee will be a good idea for tomorrow’s early morning meeting. Just place the order and I will sign the check.

Okay, Jewel. I will do that. Take care of yourself.

Although very embarrassed, Jewel continued on with her work, which was far more important. At the pace she was going, she would have to work through lunch in order to be ready for tomorrow’s meeting. Not to mention try to get some paperwork done. But despite it all, she just couldn’t keep her mind off Mr. Smooth.

When she finally finished work for the day, the barbershop was closed. Therefore, seeing Mr. Smooth was something she was looking forward to in the morning.

Two

Aikeem, you may come back and see your new baby son. I believe this is baby number 4 by woman number 4. You are beginning to be a regular here, Aikeem. Perhaps you need to talk with—

Oh, go sit your ass down somewhere. I know how many children I have. I can count. I don’t even want to see her. Tell his mama—never mind, I’m out of here. I need some me time.

Yes, gentleman of the barbershop. I am the one and only Mr. Aikeem Johnson Silverman. I have all the women running to me. With my fine looks, they give me money, drugs, alcohol, and all the sex I want and can stand.

Now take my first wife, Carolyn. I had her wrapped around my fingers in less than two months. I had her bank card, her keys to her Honda, and the key to her heart. She was easy to get. I got everything I wanted and some. I would rub her feet and run her bathwater when she came home from work. After I had her relaxed, I would tell her everything she wanted to hear. Baby this and baby that. I would have her so high on my words alone that I surprised myself sometimes. Man, I didn’t even have to work. I had it so good.

Yeah, those were some good days. But that all ended when she told me she was pregnant! I thought I was going to die. My lovely world came to a complete stop. A child. What am I supposed to do with a child during the day while I was with some honey I had picked up for the day? Man, I would be with Peaches one day and TT the next, all while Carolyn was at work. She thought I was hers and hers only. She was really stupid.

Well, with a baby on the way, I decided to be a man for once in my life and asked her hand in marriage. I didn’t want this, but I wanted to make her happy. She said yes.

I moved in with her. That one-bedroom apartment wasn’t big enough for the two of us. But we had each other and a baby on the way. There we were, with me jobless. But as luck had it for me, I ran into my boy Skillet while on my way to the store.

Skillet was well-known for the money he made selling drugs. With the baby on the way, no money, and no job, Skillet may just need me. After talking with him, he got me started into running drugs and making money. That first night, I had enough to cover rent, the electric, and money to take us out to eat at one of those upscale restaurants.

We got all dressed up to eat out. We headed uptown where she picked out one of them fancy places that have those white cloth napkins and white cloth over the table. I am not sure what those white cloths on the table are