"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep...
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes—
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death"
- William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'

Chris Omar Vaughn

All eyes shot to me as we stood outside of The Sinclair at four in the morning.

The drive there, while time consuming, served as more opportunity to think.

Do I have a plan? No. How do you plan something like this?

The facts are Malcolm is a monster, cancerous to our community, and deserves a fate worse than Hell.

I just couldn't help my balled fists trembling as I stared up at the superstructure of a hotel.

"Let's go, bro." Jabari talked in my ear with a pat on the back.

I closed my eyes and took one more deep breath before addressing this misfit group of men.

"Look, I really don't know what I'm about to do, and we don't have a lot of time to do it. I didn't expect y'all to stand behind me on this but I appreciate it. It's just something I have to take care of. Alone." I hoped they understood.

"I'm here for you." Lee made clear, taping his knuckles as he kept his cigarette between his small lips.

"I ain't got shit to lose." said AJ with a shrug, looking down the line.

Trey slowly blinked when it was his turn. "I don't even know Malcolm, I'm just here to fuck shit up." He made us all laugh.

Finally, we looked up at JB who was usually the comic relief but he'd been more quiet since the car ride.

"I hate him as much as the next guy for what he did to Mo, that's lil' sis," he talked, shaking his head. "but I respect your decision to do this one-on-one. Besides, Chris, you like McGregor with the hands anyway."

I knew he wouldn't fail to ease the tension, making me crack a toothy smile.

"We're like a gang now." AJ cheered all too excited, making our eyebrows raise at him.

"Aye, if you don't bang, don't claim it." Trey warned Adriel and his ear-to-ear grin quickly died.

He turtled into an embarrassed shell but I laughed at him, anyway, starting towards the revolving doors.

"Now let's end this motherfucker." Lee roared, hyping himself —and the rest of us — up.

A text from X let me know where to head to. It read:

He'll be on the roof you should be able to access it from the stairs. Hurry, he's about to get on a chopper

I thought two things. One, we do need to hurry. Two, I'm so jealous Malcolm has a helicopter!

"Welcome to The Sinclair. Can I help you, gentlemen?" Asked the receptionist.

I almost answered but my eyes scanned the lobby until I came across the emergency stairs past the elevators.

"This way." I directed sharply, marching for the entrance.

As we trekked up the flights of steps, I stumbled back on the platform when sound bites from my memory hit me.

"—don't do this. I fucked up, seriously this time and I'm so sorry. There's no taking it back but I promise I will spend however long it takes making it up to you. Just... just come with me. Okay? We can put this past us like everything else, right?"

I tried to keep walking, catch up with the guys, and shake off the painfully triggering voice in my head - Morgan's voice. I'd never heard it so heartbroken, so devastated.

"Chris," JB yelled for me to come. "let's go!"

I wiped my hand down my face and blinked to snap back to myself.

"I love you. I really need you right now. You're all I have left."

"You good, bro?" Asked Trey, stopping the guys to check on me.

I picked my head up and played it off.

"Yeah, yeah." I nodded, ascending the stairs after everyone else.

We carried on.

"You— you fucking left me. Here. With him," she cried.

"—I still don't even know how or when Malcolm touched me to have gotten me pregnant." Morgan cried.

I was struck with many emotions, the most stabbing one being guilt, but also revenge.

"Shit!" I roared suddenly, aggressively backing into the wall. "Goddamn it!"

And he shot my fucking dad.

I needed a second, bending over to grab my knees and just breathe.

My heartbeat is so loud right now. I'm fuckin' losing my mind here. The hell am I doing?

I stood again, feeling their eyes glued to me.

"Okay," I exasperated, clenching my fists. "fuck. Let's go."

No more thoughts. No talking. Just actions.

Trey kicked the door open with his boot, revealing a whole helicopter on the roof. Malcolm.

We walked forward in a uniformed fashion that wasn't planned. AJ and Lee held up the door so no one could come up or go out.

Each gun to my left and right clicked their safety off.

Malcolm paused, stunned, and dropped two sacks and a briefcase around his feet. Inside the metal bird, more brown sacks filled with money. That told me he was going to make a run for it.

"The hell is this?" He spoke up from several feet away.

"The fuck you think it is." Trey grumbled back. His laser pointer was focused directly in between Malcolm's two eyes and you could see the angst in Trey's brown ones.

"Just say the word." he said to me.

I said nothing, yet. Not because I didn't want the motherfucker dead, I just wanted to try and solve this less gruesome at first.

The sun was coming up. I wish we could've enjoyed the sunrise instead of having this shit to deal with.

I looked around for just a second, taking it in. This was his city, I'll give it to him, but that was about to change.

"I'm going to give you a chance, Malcolm." I made clear.

"A chance? Ha! You're going to give me a chance? Chance to do what, nephew?" He laughed out loud, nudging Sage so he could join in.

"Yeah. Get on the helicopter and go far away. We don't want to see you around here again. Leave the drugs, all of it." I wagered.

Malcolm pulled a cigar from an inner pocket of his coat and lit it. I let him only because if he didn't accept that offer, it'd be the last one he ever got to enjoy.

"Sage," Malcolm talked with the Cuban between his teeth. "show these pieces of shit who the fuck they're messing with."

"I've been waiting to fuck someone up." Sage cracked his knuckles and started sprinting straight for me.

I didn't flinch. Dumbest thing you can do is literally run up on someone who's expecting it, that's far too much time for them (me)  to get ready. I didn't have to, though. Sage was mere inches from touching me when Trey took the end of his machine gun and jammed it right into Sage's tattooed head, taking his heavyweight body down.

"DAMNNNN!" Trey's partner, Reese, exclaimed.

"Big for nothing ahh." JB scoffed, looking over Sage's body rolling around.

Trey then pointed the gun on Sage and said, "It be best if yo' ass stay down before I put a cap in it."

If it's one thing I learned about convicts, thugs, or whatever you want to be stereotypical and call black men from the hood, it's that they don't play when it comes to getting justice. Pedophiles? They'll handle them their way. Same with rapists, snitches, and men who beat women. 'Cause not all hero's wear capes.

With his pilot, Sage, down, Malcom couldn't go anywhere now.

I walked forward, fueled by adrenaline, seeing this was the perfect opportunity with Malcolm distressed over losing his security - the one thing besides money and drugs that he's depended on saving him all this time.

"You want to do this, Chris?" he asked, removing his heavy coat.

Speeding up, I unballed my fist to tighten them again until it hurt me. "If you insist, Uncle."

"All this over a girl?"

"Stop talking."

"Gladly." He smirked, throwing dust in my face. Or, shit, I hope it was just dust. Either way, it didn't get in my eyes because I reacted quick enough to close them but those split seconds left me vulnerable.

Malcolm swung first, but leave it to him to bring a knife to a fist fight.

Just like my father taught me when I was young, I forced my knuckles right into Malcom's eye, the tip of my thumb digging right into his inner corner.

He stumbled back so I lunged forward, throwing both fists at him. They landed on his face until he put me in a hold.

I instinctively drove my elbow into his spine but he released his hold and pushed off of my body.

Malcolm's two fingers gestured me to come at him and I did.

I avoided his blade, dodging when I could see it hurling at me. Other times, I wasn't so lucky but at least I wouldn't feel the sting until later. In the moment, it just felt like paper cuts.

Except for one time, he got me right in the leg. My thigh, rather, Malcolm slit me clean across it. And another time, under my eye.

With blood rushing down my leg on the inside of my pants, I knew I had to end this.

He was smart enough to keep going for the same leg even after I kicked the blade from his hand.

Malcolm charged at my lower body and since he grabbed my right thigh and stuck his fingers into the open wound, I screamed and had to get dirty to get him away from it.

"Get up, Chris!" I heard yelling.

I took a palm sized rock and bashed it into his head. Just once, though, that was enough to make him curl up and cry out.

"There you go! Get his ass!"

It took a lot out of me just to stand, but I did.

I kicked Malcolm's body near the edge.

"No. No!" He started to retreat.

Blood poured from somewhere on his head and I just watched it, surprised this monster even bled red like the rest of us.

He put his hands out and started to panic, seeing his body just a couple of inches from the ledge.

"Chris, please..." he begged quietly, bowing to me.

I lifted my right knee and immediately stomped it onto his hands, listening to him yelp over the cracking of his bones.

"GODDAMN IT!" He shouted in pain. "Fuckin' hell. Okay... okay!"

"Malcolm!" Sage found some strength and tried to sprint over but Jabari tackled his body and punched him outcold.

"Now let's wrap this shit up." Trey warned, looking up at the sky. Drones. He's right.

I looked down at a merciful Malcolm and thought I'd relish in this moment, but I didn't.

I always hated in movies how the main character would defeat their villain and then suddenly get all noble, but now, I understand. You see it all the time and yell at the screen how the movie could end there and everything would be better if they just killed the son of a bitch.

This was a poor shell of a man, weak in his own right, nothing without money or the influence of drugs. A better fate for him than death would be to rot in prison.

But then he started monologuing. . .

He laughed. "I'm your goddamn Godfather, how could you do this to me? Everything you are, I made. Everything you have — everything this city has— I built."

"I don't give a shit about that." I said, kneeing him in the face.

He spit out blood and held his hands up, fingers mangled. "Wait. Wait, dammit! What is it you want? Oh. You want the girl? Have her, she's yours. She's broken anyway." He started to laugh again, holding his broken nose.

"But who has the bigger cars? Who has the mansion? Me, don't forget it," he paused to look at each of us. "You may not see me but I'm always here. You won't hear me but you'll feel me. I'm the fucking boogeyman. I am this town. I MADE ALL OF YOU AND YOU FUCKING TURN ON ME?!" Spit flew from his mouth the angrier he got, working himself up just to choke and weakly collapse.

"You know what..." Malcolm croaked, reaching in his sock.

That's when the door flew open — Lee and AJ failed to do their jobs, witnessing what I had done to Malcolm— and simultaneously, Malcolm pulled a gun.
This time, though, before he could pull the trigger with his still weak but better hand, I dropped onto his body and wrestled the weapon from his possession.

A sudden fear of heights set in once I snapped my neck to the right and saw nothing there. I fell onto my back to safety and crawled away from the edge, but it was me or him.

Malcolm tried going to my leg again but I kicked him in the face until his body curled backwards and rolled over the edge of the structure.

His scream echoed as he dangled in the air, desperately grabbing hold of my arm.

"Don't you know," he spat, grappling, "if I go down, I'm taking you with me."

All the guys ran over and I listened to them ask me if I was alright. I'm pretty far from it, actually.

"What are you waiting for, let his ass go!" Trey's voice barked.

"Hold it, Chris." My father's voice appeared from behind the guys' bodies, his arm in the sling - courtesy of Malcolm. He wore it with pride though, as both a cool story to tell at his next party, and to show the love he said he has for Morgan.

They made way for my father to stand over my shoulder as I struggled to keep Malcolm's body from plummeting to his finale.

My eyes curiously followed my father who crouched down to be level with me.

He stared at his old foe with no readable facial expression, it was just blank.

"Governor, better known as my chosen brother," Malcolm crackled, nervous. "Carter Vaughn, old friend."

"You shot me." my father spoke plainly.

"Please. Please, you don't want to do this, Carter. You're not like me, you're good, remember? I'll leave, okay, you all can forget I ever existed." Strange words from the self-proclaimed Boogeyman.

"Come on, y'all." Trey was getting anxious, paranoid.

Dad lowered himself and looked right into Malcolm's dilated eyes.

"You're right," he said, "I'm not, but that's my son. You tried to fuck with him?"

I tried to stay strong and keep Malcolm's body up during this but was starting to slip myself.

"Dad..." I grumbled, growing impatient. Seemed like they were taking three minute long pauses between each line, it was so tense.

Malcolm gulped after looking down again. "You won't ever have to see me again, Carter, please. Chris?" The begging tone in his voice wasn't enough. Not for my father, anyway, who had years of pent up hatred towards the man he regretted making my Godfather. I never knew why, though. . .

"Dad!" I finally yelled, struggling to hold on. I let the bad hand go and Malcolm lost his breath.

"The drugs?" My father went on. "You killed a fifteen year old girl. And Morgan? You put your hands on her?"

Malcolm kicked and flailed, he tried bargaining with me to lift him up but this was out of my hands now. Carter Vaughn, who Malcolm referenced to as a name my Mom said they used to call him, The Governor, was in control. I never asked why before, I assumed it was some shit nickname he got from some old drunken antics, but now I see. I had to get my brutish ways from somewhere, right?

"Don't let me die, Carter, you won't want me to die." Malcolm pled, trying to appeal to my father's better nature.

I whipped my neck to see my father tilt his head. His eyebrows furrowed and then he stood tall over the both of us.

"You were dead to me a long time ago." He said coldly, cueing me.

I picked Malcolm's fingers from my wrist and hurriedly scrambled from the ledge before I fell, too.

A loud noise I'd never forget told us he found the pavement eight hundred feet below.

"You okay, son?" asked 'The Governor.'

I blinked at him with no words.

He brought me in for a big, bear hug that wasn't totally embarrassing. "I did this for you. For us, our town, Morgan..."

"And I got the bullet wound to prove it," he joked, pushing me. "Like I said, I'll do whatever's best for you."

I asked, "Is this something we're gonna tell Mom about, or?"

The muscles of Dad's mouth pulled down. "Uh, no, son. Maybe let's leave the details out."

We laughed together, walking over to the helicopter where I watched Trey and the guys each grab a sack and split it.

I just looked at them all talk about what they were gonna do with their share of this dead man's money.

"Chris," JB spoke for everybody. "we want you to have this. Get outta here, go to New York where you belong, it's shit for you there."

He pushed a bag of money at my chest but I said. "I can't."

"Chris, stop being noble. Take the damn money so we can get the fuck outta here." Trey made us laugh.

"Aye, give me the shit, we gonna take the fire escape," Trey said, taking the money. "meet you downstairs."

He and Reese left Lee, JB, Dad, and I on the rooftop.

I peered at the skyline.

It's done, I thought with a deep breath. It's finally over with.

The Jonses get full control of The Q and can get rid of that goddamn brothel Malcolm made of it. Mady and her family can know peace and have justice for Maya. Rodney, AJ, and all those guys no longer have to work for him and live in constant fear. Dad can take back his power in the city, I can fully focus on work and my relationship, and Morgan will never ever be subjected to something like that again.

As horrible as a person Malcolm was, he did mean something to me at one point. Plus that was a whole other side of my father than I'd ever seen before, I didn't want to get used to it honestly. I prefer the version of my father who pretends he doesn't know how to build a bird house so he can ask me for help just to bond.

Just as Lee reached for the door, he was blown back by impact.

Officers surrounded us and we put our hands up.

Shit. At least I left Morgan with that note, my final goodbye.

"Don't say anything." Jabari whispered to the rest of us.

Drones, a news helicopter, and sirens had us islanded.

I picked my head up and saw Mike Hanks, so called "officer."

I laughed in his face. "What do you want, man?"

"Where is he?" He asked with a growl. "Where's Malcolm?" His hand was already positioned on his gun.

"No need for that," I answered calmly, "he's over there."

Hanks looked around, dumbfounded. "Over where?"

The officers behind his back followed our eyes to the edge.

"Sir," one cop said, standing there. "you might wanna come see this..."

Hanks tore his eyes from my body and stormed over to see what we saw: Malcolm's lifeless body made a spectacle hundreds of feet down.

"Christ." Hanks gasped.

A news reporter ran over to the scene and Hanks backed her away, saying, "there's nothing to see here."

He walked back to me, hands on hips before he wiped his mouth after seeing such a thing.

His enlarged eyes told me this was too much for him.

"What happened here?" he questioned.

"It's not what it looks like-" Lee spoke up.

Hanks shot his puzzled gaze to Lee and then scoped the scene again briefly.

"What it looks like is," he paused, tapping his foot to think, or so it looked like. "after killing the fifteen-year-old and abusing his fiancé, Malcolm tried fleeing the country. He couldn't afford to keep his henchman quiet so they fought. He lost. You tried to save your uncle but he realized he couldn't be saved and jumped to his death."

I slowly relaxed my arms.

"Shit... yeah." JB spoke, dropping his arms, too.

Lee laughed with relief. "That sounds exactly right."

We watched the other officers take Sage away and read him his rights.

"Yeah, a-and lock his ass up for a long time, he was beating people, trafficking, smuggling drugs and all that." JB's voice trailed off as he overlooked the cops arresting Sage. I hate Sage.

"You boys didn't take any drugs or money, did you?" Asked Hanks.

I remained still, frozen, while Lee and my father shook their heads no.

Unable to wrap my head around this, I pulled Hanks to the side away from my father, his men, and everyone else.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him for the truth.

He removed his hat to me. "I told you, he couldn't fulfill his debts to us. With him gone there will be a lot less we have to clean up. And, Chris, I'm sorry."

"I don't care about Malcolm-"

"I meant for what he did to Ms.Bennett. We should've done more to help. If it's any consolation-"

I clenched my jaw impatiently. "Is anyone else getting arrested or can we go?"

"You're free to go, Mr.Vaughn. All of you. Sage won't see the light of day again," he assured me. "As for the legalities of Malcom's property and finances, someone will be in touch with Ms.Bennett."

He wanted a hand shake and after staring at it for some time, I shook it only to solidify the conversation we just had, or else. Otherwise I didn't trust him, but used his shadiness to my advantage this time.

I walked in front of my father, Lee, and Trey and they followed me back down the stairs.

Once out of The Sinclair, we all regrouped at our trucks.

"I say we start a group." Lee volunteered.

I shook my head, laughing.

"We can be like the hood Avengers." Trey followed up, entertaining the idea.

"We're already a crime-fighting melting pot, all we need is some masks." AJ added, looking around.

"Yeah," JB said. "one white guy, a couple niggas, an Asian, and you a snake!"

AJ made himself small before we all cracked on him and he cheered up.

"So I guess no wedding?" Jabari talked, vibrating his lips.

I lifted my head with an idea. "Well, actually..."

~~~

It was seven o'clock in the fucking morning when I got back to my apartment. Would've been six if we didn't stop for medical attention on the way home. They said it was a good thing I did, though, because I was losing a lot of blood. Shit, I didn't realize at first but thank fuck I got some tape and bandages 'cause I was starting to feel that shit.

If I go to sleep now and get my eight hours, I'll wake up at— ah, fuck it.

I walked— limped— into the bedroom and found Morgan fast asleep in bed.

For just a second longer, I watched her lay there in my full brown Essentials hoodie and matching joggers, car keys and my handwritten note in her hands.

This girl, I pondered with a smile. She's amazing. So beautiful, strong, and brave. The way she cares about me alone is— it's actually unfathomable. I'd say I don't deserve her, but more than anything, I do.

I chuckled softly and made it to the bathroom for a shower before getting into bed with her.

When I returned from the shower, Morgan had removed her (my) clothes and changed into something comfier.

I pulled on a pair of shorts and smiled crookedly as she reached for me.

I groaned with each step, the pain was catching up to me. I'm not young anymore.

I got situated under the covers and pulled Morgan's body as close to mine as humanly possible.

She had on cartoons which made me laugh, it put me at ease a little too, I needed a distraction - something lighthearted to cap off the night (morning.)

"I love you." Morgan whispered, squeezing my body. "so much."

"I love you, too."

"Is he dead?" Morgan suddenly asked, never picking her head off of my chest.

I exhaled through my nose. "Yeah."

For what seemed like a handful of minutes, Morgan didn't say anything. The sounds of SpongeBob in the background filled the space.

"No more fighting?" She spoke again.

"No," I answered all too fast. "fuck no." I laughed.

"I kinda feel bad," Morgan said, "about all the wedding stuff going to waste."

"Oh, it's not going to waste."

"What?!"