Everyone had made it back safely, everyone except Ghost. Dana had been at the house for over two hours waiting for Ghost to arrive. She didn’t want to think the worst, but the more she paced the more she worried. Ghost was her big brother and just the thought of something bad happening to him had her ready to go crazy. “Ghost should have been here by now.”
“Calm down,” Randy said in a calm tone. “The rules are we wait six hours after a job before we do anything.”
“You shouldn’t have left him,” Dana said staring at Randy. “The rules are we always stick together and work as a unit, not split up,” she said with a cold edge in her voice.
“It was Ghost’s idea that we split up in the first place,” Randy matched Dana’s tone. “We all knew the risk beforehand so let’s not start to point fingers.”
“Y’all two chill out,” Dougie said speaking for the first time.
“Where did you leave Ghost?” Dana asked.
“I didn’t, “leave” Ghost anywhere,” Randy said defensively. “He, “asked” me to drop him off at the subway.”
“Why the fuck would he say some shit like that? That don’t even make no sense!” Dana fumed.
“It was this detective on our ass and this motherfucker came out of nowhere,” Randy explained. “And Ghost thought it would be best if we split up. The shit happened so fast that the next thing I know, I saw Ghost hop out the car and disappear down the subway steps.”
Just as Dana was about to respond, everyone at the table stopped when they heard the front door open and in walked Ghost.
“Oh my God! I was so worried!” Dana said, as she ran, jumped in her brother’s arms, and tried to squeeze the life out of him. “Are you alright?” she asked as she began checking him for wounds.
“I’m good,” Ghost smiled as he sat his bag of money down on the table. “That fucking detective almost had me,” he admitted. “But I had to put the moves on his ass,” he laughed.
“Celebration time!” Dougie announced walking from the kitchen with a bottle of champagne in each hand.
Ghost removed his soiled clothes and stood in his boxers. “I’d like to make a toast,” he said getting everyone’s attention. “At last we are finally free,” he began. “We have successfully taken down enough banks to finally retire and ride off into the sunset. I want to thank every one of you because without each of you, none of this would have been possible. To happiness, power, and family,” he said raising his glass and clanking it against all the other glasses. Ghost had been planning and preparing for this day for the last three years. His biggest fear was going broke, so he made sure he planned for anything and everything that could go wrong. Deep down inside, Ghost was happy to call it quits. Tonight, he came close to losing his life or spending the rest of it in a cage. Ghost loved money, but he also knew when it got too hot in the kitchen it was time to step out.
“I’m just happy you made it back in one piece,” Dana smiled. Just the thought of losing Ghost made her stomach feel like she was on a roller coaster. Sure, they had their ups and downs like any other family, but at the end of the day, they loved each other and would always be there for one another. Now that she knew Ghost was good, Dana’s train of thought shifted over to Stone. He had been heavily on her mind ever since the last time the two were in each other’s presence. Dana’s thoughts were interrupted when Ghost began to divide the money. As usual, he sat each member’s share of money in front of him or her.
“Job well done,” Ghost smiled. “In the next three weeks I’m out of here,” he announced. “I’ll be throwing a big going away party before I leave though.”
“Out? What you mean you out? Where are you going?” Dana nosily asked.
Ghost sipped his drink slowly. “I’m moving to Hawaii.”
“What’s in Hawaii?” Dougie asked.
“A peace of mind,” Ghost