Family Business Read online

  Family Business

  Book 1

  Family Business Series

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Family Business

  Vanessa | Miller

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Former Rain | Book 1 in the Rain Series | Sample Chapter | by

  Vanessa Miller

  Prologue

  Books in the RAIN series

  Family Business

  Vanessa

  Miller

  Book 1

  Family Business Series

  Publisher’s Note:

  This short story is a work of fiction. References to real events, organizations, or places are used in a fictional context. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Vanessa Miller

  www.vanessamiller.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  © 2016 by Vanessa Miller

  Praise Unlimited Enterprises

  Charlotte, NC

  No part of this ebook 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 publisher.

  Other Books by Vanessa Miller

  Family Business Book I

  Rain in the Promised Land

  After the Rain

  How Sweet The Sound

  Heirs of Rebellion

  Feels Like Heaven

  Heaven on Earth

  The Best of All

  Better for Us

  Her Good Thing

  Long Time Coming

  A Promise of Forever Love

  A Love for Tomorrow

  Yesterday’s Promise

  Forgotten

  Forgiven

  Forsaken

  Rain for Christmas (Novella)

  Through the Storm

  Rain Storm

  Latter Rain

  Abundant Rain

  Former Rain

  Anthologies (Editor)

  Keeping the Faith

  Have A Little Faith

  This Far by Faith

  EBOOKS

  Love Isn’t Enough

  A Mighty Love

  The Blessed One (Blessed and Highly Favored series)

  The Wild One (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Preacher’s Choice (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Politician’s Wife (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  The Playboy’s Redemption (Blessed and Highly Favored Series)

  Tears Fall at Night (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Joy Comes in the Morning (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  A Forever Kind of Love (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Ramsey’s Praise (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Escape to Love (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Praise For Christmas (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  His Love Walk (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Could This Be Love (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Song of Praise (Praise Him Anyhow Series)

  Prologue

  1971

  Sliding into home plate Demetrius Shepherd knew that something had just gone real wrong. Trying to stop the opposing team from tagging him out, Demetrius did a crossover step with the right leg, then the back spike of the left leg caught in the clay and turned his foot completely around. He bit his lip, trying desperately not to cry. But honestly, he didn’t know which was worse, the pain in his ankle, or the reality of knowing he wouldn’t be able to finish out this state championship game.

  Sam Johnson ran onto the field, he was screaming at people to get out of the way as he got down on the ground next to Demetrius, “You alright, son?”

  Even with all the pain he was in, Demetrius smiled. He liked when Coach Johnson called him ‘son’. Demetrius played baseball for Coach Johnson five years straight and each year he found himself wishing that the man had truly been his father. “It hurts coach.”

  “We’re going to get you fixed up, just lay back and relax. This is not the end for you, Demetrius,” Coach Johnson told him.

  The team trainer ran onto the field, Coach Johnson got out of his way and then the trainer snapped his foot back in place... no tears, but he passed out as if he’d just received a knockout punch from George Foreman.

  When Demetrius woke up, he was in the hospital with a cast on his leg. His father was standing next to his bed looking like one of his clients had just hit the number and he now had to pay up big time. Don Shepherd was the street numbers man. The lottery wasn’t legal in Ohio, so Don was making a killing with his street numbers business. When his customers lost, Don won and won big. But he never liked paying when the shoe was on the other foot.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Demetrius asked. “I’m the one with the broken ankle.”

  “From what I heard, some dude was running up on you and that’s why you slid wrong and broke your ankle.”

  Demetrius didn’t want nothing to get started so he quickly said, “That dude was on the opposing team, Dad. He was supposed to tag me out, if he could. I just landed wrong. Nothing else to it.”

  “Well somebody’s got to pay for what’s been done to you.” Don hit the wall with his fist as he angrily shook his head. “I am bound and determined to keep at least one promise that I made to your mama.”

  “I didn’t break my good arm, Dad. I’ll get some rehab on my ankle and then I’ll be back on the field playing just like Tommy Davis back in ’65.”

  “Tommy Davis was good. But he was never as good as he could have been if he hadn’t broken that ankle. And the Dodgers knew it too. That’s why they traded him as soon as they could.”

  Demetrius didn’t want to hear all the reasons why not. Right now, as he lay in this hospital bed, feeling so much pain that he wanted to pass out again, Demetrius heard his coach telling him, “This is not the end for you.” His father didn’t believe in him. But his coach did and his mother had always believed in him, right up until the day she died.

  When Demetrius was much younger, his dad had been a pimp and when money got tight he pimp out his own wife. Emma Shepherd had been too terrified of the six foot four semi-pro boxer to say no.

  So, there were many nights when Emma would kiss her son goodnight and then head out to make that money. But some nights, before she hit the streets, Emma would get this tortured expression on her face and then she’d make Demetrius promise to stay in school and keep swinging that bat like no bodies business.

  “I will, Mama. I promise,” he told her, expecting to see her in the stands when he played his first professional game. But his hopes had been dashed when his beautiful mother was murdered by some deranged john who beat and stabbed her to death.

  Demetrius had only been eleven when she died. He’d kept swinging that bat and running the field in hopes of going to college and then getting drafted into the Majors. Even though his mother was gone, Demetrius still wanted to make her proud. But with a broken ankle and a father who no longer believed in the dream, things weren’t looking too good.

  Don Shepherd stood up, he positioned his hands as if he were gripping a bat. As he swung it, he told Demetrius, “The next time you swing a bat, it’ll be to collect on a debt owed to the f
amily.”

  ~~~~~

  “Come on y’all, gather around ‘cause I got something to say.” At eight, Angelica Barnes was just a kid, but she already considered herself a minister-in-training. Her daddy was the most anointed preacher she’d ever seen and she figured she would need a lot of practice if she was going to be as good as Pastor Marvin R. Barnes III.

  She waited as her brother and three friends from down the street were seated on the patio furniture. She then stood behind her makeshift podium and opened her Bible. “Since y’all don’t know nothing about how to pray, I’m going to tell you what you need to do.”

  Ronny, Angelica’s baby brother raised his hand and said, “I know about prayer. Daddy taught on it at church last Sunday.”

  “Hush up, Ronny,” Angelica flipped a few pages in her Bible, she then turned back to her congregation with a stern expression on her face. “Turn in your Bibles to Luke, chapter 11.”

  The kids pretended to turn the pages, but really, they didn’t know where to find Luke, Mathew, John or any of the Gospels for that matter.

  Angelica began reading, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his dis... ci...ples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Sounding the word out. She said ‘disciples’ as best she could.

  “He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.”

  When she was done reading she closed her Bible and said, “Do y’all know how to pray now?”

  A little girl, a few years younger than Angelica said, “What does hallowed mean?”

  Angelica tapped her index finger to her chin. “I’ve often wondered that myself. I’ll ask my daddy and then I’ll let you know.”

  The little boy seated next to Ronny then asked, “How can we live just on one piece of bread each day?”

  “You’re allowed to have more than a piece of bread,” Ronny told him while shaking his head at his friend’s question.

  Angelica scolded her brother, “I’m teaching this lesson, so kindly allow me to answer all questions.”

  “But you don’t know nothing,” Ronny shouted back.

  Angelica had had enough. Brothers were so stupid. She yelled, “Daddy, Ronny keeps interrupting me.”

  Pastor Marvin R. Barnes and his wife Maxine had been standing by the door listening to the sermon the entire time. They had to hold their mouths to quiet the giggling a few times, but nothing would have pulled them away from this vision of Angelica following in her father’s footsteps.

  “She’s something, isn’t she,” Maxine said to her husband.

  Marvin agreed. “I think we’ve got a preacher on our hands. Now let me help her teach this lesson.”

  Light shone all over Angelica’s face as she beamed at her father. As far as she was concerned, her daddy being a pastor was just as good as being the president of the United States. “Thank you for helping me teach the Word of God to these kids, Daddy,” she said as her captive audience jumped up and ran into the house.

  “I enjoyed it.” He took the Bible in his hands and sat down with her. There were tears in Pastor Marvin Barnes’ eyes as he turned the pages to Jeremiah chapter 1. “As I walked out here, the Lord put something in my spirt for you, honey-bun.”

  “He did?” Angelica’s voice was awestruck. How could she be on the Lord’s mind? “What did He say?”

  “Let’s read it together.” He held the Bible open to her. “It begins at verse five...”

  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Then said, I: ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth’. But the Lord said to me: ‘Do not say, I am a youth, For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak’.”

  As they finished reading, Angel looked to her father and asked, “What does it mean, Daddy?”

  He lowered his head and kissed his daughter on the cheek. “It means that God has something special in store for you. So, you just keep doing what you’re doing and always listen for the Lord’s leading.”

  One

  Ten years later...

  “Let me go, Frankie. I’m done with this job and I’m done with you,” a woman was yelling as Demetrius and Mo made their way up the alley.

  Demetrius was thankful for the noise because it was leading him straight to the man they came to see. As they rounded the corner and rolled up on Frankie Day, Demetrius firmly held the bat that he used to practice with.

  Frankie gripped the woman’s arm with one hand and smacked her across the face with the other.

  “I don’t care if you beat me,” the woman yelled. “Do whatever you want, but you’re not going to make a whore out of me.”

  Demetrius couldn’t see the girl’s face because as they rounded the corner, they were facing Frankie’s back and she was directly in front of him. But there was no fear in her voice, even after being struck hard. And Demetrius knew what fear sounded like. He’d heard it often enough from men who were supposed to be tough guys. But the minute he unleashed his beat down, things changed.

  “You a stripper, Angel. You act like I’m asking you to do something you ain’t never heard of.”

  “I won’t do it,” she said.

  Frankie shoved her and then lifted a fist, getting ready to strike her again, but that’s when Demetrius grabbed Frankie’s arm and swung him around. “Didn’t your mama tell you that boys aren’t supposed to hit girls?”

  Frankie’s fist balled so he could strike out at the intruder. But once he caught sight of Demetrius, he backed up. “Hey man, you coming out to see my girls tonight...drinks on me.”

  As Demetrius grabbed Frankie, Mo held onto the woman, making sure she didn’t run off and warn any of Frankie’s boys. But somehow, Demetrius doubted that she wanted to help Frankie. He glanced over at her, and for a minute he almost forgot why he was in the alley in the first place. It was her eyes... big, brown and sexy, Even sexier than that white teddy and that see-it-all robe she was wearing. That caramel coated skin and long flowing sandy colored hair went well with those eyes and that teddy.

  Demetrius pulled his eyes away from her, trying hard to focus as he told Frankie, “Can’t come in tonight. Daddy’s got me here on business.” He then lifted the bat and smacked it into his free hand.

  “Don don’t have nothing to worry about with me. Business is good. I’ll have his money by the end of the night.” Frankie then turned to the vision in white and said, “If I could stop chasing these runaway strippers.”

  From the conversation Demetrius overheard as they walked up, it sounded like Frankie wanted this girl to do more than just strip.

  “I’m not running away, I quit,” she said with fire in those brown eyes.

  “You don’t get to quit on me. I own you in more ways than one.” He poked a finger at her chest. “Remember that.”

  She tried to spit on him, but Frankie moved out of the way and then leaped on her like he thought the boys were there to watch him deliver a beat down. But Demetrius wasn’t having it. Frankie got off a right-handed blow to the woman’s cheek, but then Demetrius swung that bat like he was going for a home run. Frankie yelled and then fell to the ground.

  “Why’d you stop me? I’m trying to get her in line so I can earn the money I owe your daddy.”

  “We came here to beat you down, not watch you beat some defenseless woman.” Demetrius was about to swing again.

  Frankie lifted his hands while sitting up and scooting back against the brick wall of his strip club. “Don’t do this Demetrius, I got the money.”

  Demetrius really wanted to keep pounding this fool. But if he beat Frankie rather than collect the money his father sent him after, then he’d have to deal with Don Shepherd and nobody in their organization wanted to deal w
ith his daddy. “Where’s the money?”

  “That-that’s what I been trying to tell you. I got ten thou.” Frankie stood back up, but kept a distance between him and Demetrius. He pointed towards the vision in white. “And one of my VIPs is ready to give me the other five right now if Angel will spend the night with him. He’s crazy about her, and is upstairs waiting while she’s down here giving me attitude.”

  The girl’s name was Angel. She looked like an angel, Demetrius thought to himself. Too sweet and pure to be getting beat down in an alley because she didn’t want to be pimped out. Or maybe this was a regular fight Frankie and Angel had every week. Maybe she just didn’t like the john who was so hot for her. “She can make five G’s in one night?” Demetrius asked incredulously.

  “I’m telling you, man, this dude has been begging to have Angel for months now. Angel don’t go in for stuff like that so I’ve been saying no.” He hunched his shoulders. “But I got this debt with your daddy. So, it’s time for Angel to help me out for once in her life.”

  Demetrius glanced over at Angel, tears were streaming down her face. He turned back to Frankie and said, “You got the ten G’s on you now?”

  Frankie pointed behind him, indicating the strip club which was nothing more than an old house, turned into a speakeasy/strip club. “In my safe. I was going to bring it around later tonight once I collected the rest of the money.”

  Demetrius directed Mo to go into the club with Frankie and collect the money. He then told them, “I’ll stay right here with the money maker.”

  As Frankie and Mo headed inside, Demetrius eyed Angel from head to toe and back again. She was a vision of loveliness. Easily one the most beautiful girls Demetrius had seen in a long while. Other women might have been more polished. But the girl standing before him had a few more years to go before anyone would ever consider her a full-grown woman. By then, Demetrius figured she’d outshine any woman. Even Diahann Carroll back in her day. “How old are you?”

  “I’m almost nineteen?” she answered while wiping the tears from her face.

  “So, you’re eighteen.” Demetrius shook his head. “Why aren’t you at home, letting your mama teach you how to cook, so you can land a husband or something?”