Libra princesses, p.1
Libra Princesses, page 1
Libra Princesses
C. N. Phillips
www.urbanbooks.net
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1 - Nori
Chapter 2 - Nadi
Chapter 3 - Zeus
Chapter 4 - Nadi
Chapter 5 - Nori
Chapter 6 - Nadi
Chapter 7 - Nadi
Chapter 8 - Kelz
Chapter 9 - Zeus
Chapter 10 - Nori
Chapter 11 - Nadi
Chapter 12 - Nori
Chapter 13 - Kelz
Chapter 14 - Banks
Chapter 15 - Nadi
Chapter 16 - Kelz
Chapter 17 - Zeus
Chapter 18 - Kelz
Chapter 19 - Nadi
Chapter 20 - Zeus
Chapter 21 - Zeus
Teaser chapter
Urban Books, LLC
300 Farmingdale Road, N.Y.-Route 109
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Libra Princesses
Copyright © 2023 C. N. Phillips
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
ISBN: 978-1-6455-6502-4
ISBN 13: 978-1-64556-502-4
EBOOK: 978-1-64556-503-1
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Distributed by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Submit Orders to:
Customer Service
400 Hahn Road
Westminster, MD 21157-4627
Phone: 1-800-733-3000
Fax: 1-800-659-2436
This book is dedicated to everyone who is chasing a dream or transforming an old one.
—C. N.
Prologue
“No! I don’t want my girls involved in whatever shit you have going on!”
The annoyed woman’s shout was followed by the sound of fine china shattering on the wall. Nat Porter, a 40-year-old veteran, had ducked out of the way right on time. It would have been bad business to walk around with a bruised face. A bubble of frustration formed inside him as he stood up straight to face his angry wife.
“Chasity, I wouldn’t ask this of them if it weren’t important.”
“They just started college, Nat. Let them have a life.”
“If Zeus doesn’t get what he wants—” Nat stopped and sighed as his eyes pled with Chasity. “I just need the journal.”
“My grandmother gifted them that journal,” Chasity started with a trembling bottom lip. “All of her grandfather, his grandfather, and his grandfather’s life’s work is in that book. They traveled the world many times to fill it, and you want them to just hand it over to you so you can do what? Just give it to that drug dealer?”
There was no reasoning with her, and Nat grew increasingly frustrated. The journal in question wasn’t just any journal. It belonged to the world-celebrated archeologist Giovanni. Inside it was a thief or pirate’s dream . . . all of his family’s rare findings. Findings that were worth a fortune. The existence of Giovanni’s journal had been a myth until recently, when Zeus found proof of its existence at an art exhibit. Ever since, he’d been obsessed with finding it. And that alone was enough to put the fear of God into Nat’s heart. What Zeus didn’t know was that Nat’s wife was a direct descendant of Giovanni, and the journal he wanted so badly had been gifted to Nat’s daughters. If somehow the trail led Zeus to them, Nat didn’t know how he would protect them. Zeus had hundreds of men at his beck and call. He controlled Los Angeles and had many powerful players in his back pocket.
“Zeus is a very dangerous man, Chasity,” Nat all but begged. “I have to hide the journal.”
“Then why do you work for him, huh? Why do you protect him?”
There was nothing that he could tell his wife that she would believe. Nat didn’t think any of his words had even penetrated her skull. Zeus Daniels wasn’t just LA’s biggest kingpin and most feared man. He was also Nat’s cousin. When Nat returned from his last tour, he settled down with his wife and children. Still having a soldier’s mentality, he took on a job as security detail for his cousin. Since they’d grown up together, Zeus’s lifestyle was nothing new to Nat. Before he left for the army, Nat had seen precisely how Zeus had come up in the game, and it wasn’t pretty. He wasn’t just brutal. He was merciless. And the new money tree he stumbled upon made him twice that.
Zeus had taken up a fascination with collecting rare items, the kind most would only find in museums. After discovering how much the black market would pay for such items, he became addicted to the trade. Zeus would do whatever it took to find and procure the item he was looking for. He didn’t care how much blood was shed in the process.
Nat realized that his own family was in trouble when rumors about Giovanni’s journal started floating around. To everyone else, it was nonsense. A man documenting the locations of all those treasures and not taking any for his own gain was unheard of. But to Giovanni’s family, it was a rite of passage. When it was Chasity’s turn, she had no interest in the world’s secrets, and the journal just collected dust. However, it picked right back up with their daughters. Nobody ever guessed that their family’s niche would end up being its curse. Nat knew that his daughters would die before handing over the journal, and so would Chasity. That was why Nat was determined to destroy it before Zeus followed the scent to his girls.
“Chasity—”
“No, Nat. That book contains my family’s legacy.”
“You don’t understand. Zeus knows that book exists. Do you know what’s in it? Do you know exactly what your ancestors documented?”
“I do. There are magnificent findings in the journal from all around the world. Things that may never be found again.”
“Exactly. And that makes them lost treasures. Treasures that they saw with their own two eyes and felt with their own hands. Hundreds of them. That book is a real-life treasure map. If Zeus gets it, he’ll be the richest man in the world.”
“So why do you want him to have—”
“I don’t want to give it to Zeus. I want to destr—” Nat was cut off when his phone rang. He saw it was Zeus after he pulled it out of his pocket and held a finger up to Chasity. “Hello?”
“I need you to come to Spot One—now,” Zeus’s deep voice sounded from the other end.
“Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s not. We just got robbed, and I know who was behind it. I need you to handle it for me.”
“No problem. You know I’ll get them.”
“I hope so.”
Nat disconnected the phone and focused his attention back on his wife. The look on her beautiful face was a mixture of disappointment and disgust. And Nat couldn’t say that he blamed her. What he was asking of her was a lot on her shoulders. And he couldn’t imagine taking something so priceless from his girls, but it had to be done.
“Please just call Nadi and Nori. Have them come home tonight for dinner, okay? I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He kissed her on the cheek and left the house to handle the job Zeus had for him. Once inside his tan Durango, he checked the magazine in his pistol before tucking it into the holster on his hip. Already strapped to one of his ankles was the .22 revolver he kept there, and strapped to the other ankle was a knife. Many of the things in the army never left him, especially his inability to trust the world around him.
Nat was a specialist in hand-to-hand combat and an expert marksman as well. The training he’d learned in the field, he taught to his children. After working for Zeus, he knew how ugly the streets of LA could get, and he wanted his daughters to be able to protect themselves. He might have gone a little overboard with it because, by the time he was done with their training, they were miniature soldiers themselves. However, despite what he did in the dark for Zeus, he still wanted them to have normal lives. He didn’t want them ever to have to use their training, but it was better to be ready than having to get ready.
He drove toward the spot Zeus had asked him to meet at. He was slightly shocked by the location Zeus had chosen, mainly because he rarely dropped by there. That particular stash spot was located in South Central. Since Zeus had moved to millionaire status, he barely visited the hood. When Nat inquired why he’d have a part of his location there in the first place, Zeus’s answer was simple. “My people blend in here.”
When Nat arrived, he noticed two black SUVs outside the property. He parked and walked to the duplex on the right. As soon as he approached, the door opened, and he was ushered inside by another one of Zeus’s hired hands, Trey. He was young, about the same age as Nat’s girls, but one thing was different for sure . . . He was deadly. However, Nat had gotten to know him and had taken quite a liking to the kid. Trey had a good heart. He was just doing what he had to do to care for his family.
“What’s up, Nat? Zeus is in the back,” Trey said, nodding his head for Nat to follow him. “You good?”
“Yup. Just here to handle what needs to be handled,” Nat said as they walked. “He tell you what’s going on?”
“Nah. He called me here and told me some shit needs to be handled. Probably some crazy motherfucka moving in on the turf again. You remember what happened to the last folks that did that?”
“Yeah.” Nat smirked. “I was the one who did it to them.”
“You’re a cold piece, Nat. You gotta teach me some of that army shit one day.”
Nat didn’t get a chance to answer because they had reached the back room by then. Standing around a red chair were three more of Zeus’s people, and sitting in the chair was Zeus himself. He was wearing an expensive suit and puffing a Cuban cigar like he had no care in the world. When he saw the newcomers enter, he put the cigar out and got up from his chair.
“It’s about time you showed up,” he bellowed and hugged Nat.
“My bad, cuz. I had to wrap up some stuff at home,” Nat said when they released each other.
“Wifey tripping?”
“Something like that,” Nat said, not breaking eye contact. “What’s up, though? You said somebody robbed you?”
Before Zeus answered, he walked to a table on one side of the room and poured himself a glass of brandy. He gestured to Nat to see if he wanted some, but Nat declined. Whatever the job was, Nat wanted to get it done so he could go home. He waited for Zeus to down the entire glass and return to his seat.
“The sundial bracelet that I recently acquired is missing. Along with the ancient robes worn by King Tut himself.” Zeus shook his head. “Gone. Do you know how long it took me to find those items? How much they’re worth? I have a buyer ready this instant to take them off my hands, but it seems that somebody already did that.”
“Do you know who’s responsible?” Nat asked in an even tone.
Zeus stared at him for a while, not blinking. Nat’s facial expression stayed the same, and he didn’t move. Finally, a smirk came to Zeus’s face.
“Yes, I do. Actually, I have the culprit here now.” Zeus motioned his head at one of the goons, and the big man disappeared briefly. When he returned, he dragged a woman with disheveled hair and bloody clothes. “That’s her right there.”
Her eyes were swollen shut, indicating that she’d been beaten badly. Her breathing was labored, and even if she weren’t bound and gagged, it was doubtful she’d be able to move very much. It wasn’t just her blood-soaked clothes that made Nate swallow a lump in his throat. It was the fact that he knew her.
“Lilah,” he breathed sadly, seeing his partner in such bad shape.
Both he and Lilah shared the same passion, and that was not wanting to see someone like Zeus obtain more power than he already had. Zeus wasn’t just on the prowl for valuable relics. He wanted the priceless ones. The ones collectors on the black market would sell their souls for. Through his children, Nat had a newfound respect for the artifacts Zeus collected. They weren’t just treasures with a price tag on them. They were pieces of history. Lilah shared the same sentiment. It wasn’t hard for her to get into Zeus’s bed, nor was it hard for them to smuggle many of Zeus’s findings out of his clutches and to their rightful cultures.
“I-I’m sorry,” Lilah said weakly. “I didn’t have a choice.”
Nat didn’t need to ask her what she meant. He had his answer when he looked back into his cousin’s eyes. Zeus knew everything. Before Nat could move, Zeus snapped his fingers and put his men on him. Nat tried to reach his gun, but one of Zeus’s men grabbed his arm and pinned it behind his back. Another punched him hard in the face, disorienting him for a few moments. The men disarmed him of everything in those moments while Trey stood on the side, looking confused.
“What . . . What’s going on?” Trey asked.
“You’re about to see what happens to traitors. Blood means nothing if it’s disloyal,” Zeus said while Nat was forced to his knees. Zeus drew his gun and screwed a silencer on before looking at Lilah. “I guess now isn’t the best time to tell you that you were great in bed. What a waste.”
He aimed the weapon at her forehead, and Nat fought against the men restraining him. She was a good woman. She didn’t deserve to die like that. But it was no use. Zeus pulled the trigger once, and the bullet hit her square in the forehead. Nat witnessed her last breath, and his heart sank into his stomach. It was then that he realized he’d never see his family again.
“Why would you do it?” Zeus asked, turning to him. “You cost me millions. Millions.”
“I did what I had to do,” Nat said. “We stole them because those artifacts belong to their cultures, not in the sitting room of a rich schmuck like you.”
Zeus’s nose flared at the silence that followed. Maybe he thought his cousin would beg for his life, but there he knelt, defiant as ever. Maybe he wanted Nat to give him a reason to keep him alive, but he didn’t. The silence was what made Zeus angry. He was used to men groveling, but Nat was firm in his decision.
Zeus clenched his jaw and aimed the gun at Nat’s chest, but he stopped himself from pulling the trigger at the last second. His men paid attention to the hesitation, perhaps thinking he would be lenient because the two men were family. But really, their being family didn’t do anything but make Zeus want to make an example of Nat even more. Finally, he tucked the gun away, and Nat emptied the breath in his chest but sucked it right back in when he saw the knife Zeus pulled from his jacket. With it clenched in his hand and a quick thrust, Zeus grunted and plunged the blade through Nat’s heart. Zeus placed a hand on his shoulder and bent slightly to speak in his ear.
“Just doing what I have to do,” he said, listening to Nat take his last breath.
When he removed the knife from his chest, Zeus felt the remainder of Nat’s life come with it. The men holding Nat let him fall to the floor as blood spilled from his wound. Zeus turned to a horrified Trey and wiped the knife off on the young man’s arm. Nobody knew what to say, so Zeus gave one final instruction.
“Clean this up.”
Chapter 1
Nori
Three years later
The moment I heard the crashing sound of glass shattering, my hands flew to the top of my freshly installed sew-in. I wasn’t the one who had dropped the tray of drinks, but I might as well have been. I took a deep breath to keep the intense feeling of annoyance at bay, but a groan slipped through my lips anyway. When anything happened in the restaurant I worked at, somehow, the blame always came back to me, especially if the person that messed up was my boss’s niece, Trish.
I worked at a restaurant called Sebastian’s, a place for fine dining. People from all over Los Angeles came there to eat. They even had a photo wall dedicated to all the celebrities who had dined there. I was behind the bar, and Trish had just left after grabbing the final drink for her table before she tripped over her own feet. She went crashing down, along with the tray in her hands.
“Dammit, Trish,” I groaned.
“I know, I know,” she said, looking at the damage she’d done.
She looked like she wanted to cry, and I wanted like hell to be mad at her. I couldn’t, though. I knew that day her mind was all over the place since it was close to her parents’ death anniversary. They had died in a car accident when she was just a teenager, and she’d been living with Tera, her aunt, ever since. Not only that, but Trish was also just like me. We were both in our early twenties, working a dead-end job just to get by, so some days wouldn’t be as good as others. The only thing was, she always got off easy. Me, on the other hand? Tera couldn’t stand me.
I held out my hand and helped Trish to her feet. We both checked her to make sure she didn’t have any cuts. By then, the bus boys had already made their way over to clean up the mess. It was a good thing it was a slow Tuesday night, and all the guests were seated at the far side of the restaurant. Still, it was only a matter of time before—
“Norielle, what did you do?” I heard Tera’s angry voice before I saw her.
Sighing, I slowly turned around to face the raging bull. Tera was a caramel-complexioned Black woman like Trish. She was a big-boned woman in her fifties and always wore a ponytail in her graying hair. Her brown eyes glared down her pointy nose at me like she wanted to snatch me up.
