Dominic Royal
The Aftermath
The Bentley eased up under Victoria’s building as the rain still poured down on the windshield, as side mirrors caught the neon lights.
Dique rode shotgun, sitting low in the seats with his sleeves rolled up and one hand bringing the blunt back and forth to his mouth as he passed it between me and Tone.
Tone sat behind us, quiet, watching the block like it was a chessboard.
My people were spread on the corners looking like statues in black polos shirts with earbuds in.
When we parked and walked through the lobby it smelled like lemon cleaner and the salt water, same as it always did.
On the way up in the elevator, I looked at myself through the metal mirror ignoring the burning from the graze in my arm.
I wore regular shit today. A pair of simple black jeans, a black Amiri hoodie and a pair of Timbs.
Her door opened before I knocked. She stood there like she was shocked wearing a loose robe, with her hair a mess, and red eyes with bare feet.
She looked like a dear caught in the headlights because this visit was unexpected, which was exactly how I wanted it.
A whiskey bottle was on the counter next to a notebook with bent up edges.
She saw me and didn’t flinch though and that was enough.
I stepped in and Dique followed like my shadow.
Tone came in and walked straight to the back making sure it was clear.
Two of my hittas were already positioned on the outside next to the doors since that was their post anyway.
She spoke first. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a calm voice. “I wasn’t expecting this visit, and I haven’t done anything.”
“Figuring out what you gon’ do with what you now know.” I replied with my head slightly cocked to the side.
She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. She had the look of someone who knew the math and hated the numbers, yet she was smart enough to do the count. El Blanca was her uncle, she’s not a fool, Victoria knew exactly what this was.
Dique dropped his blunt in an ashtray on the counter, pinched it and blew smoke slowly into the room, watching her with curiosity. “You think she don’t know it was us?” he asked.
“She knows,” I said staring her up and down. Her body language told me all I needed to know. I walked to the kitchen island, let one hand rest on the marble and twirled the blunt in between my fingers.
“I’ma give you some options. You can leave,” I told her.
“You take a plane tonight and we’ll wire some cash from a shell account.
You can get a new name, new place and new everything if you want to vanish and nobody will be looking for you.
You can also go back to Cuba to yo’ old life and we leave it all in the past.”
Her laugh was sarcastic. “And if I don’t leave?”
“You stay,” I replied. “You do it under my rules, and you keep quiet. You don’t talk to his people. You don’t move without clearance. You don’t put us in a position we got to clean up for you. You follow instructions and you live.”
She looked at me like she was trying to study me, but she knew it would never work. This shit was black and white with me. I didn’t hate Victoria, I simply tried to resonate with how she was done and somewhat be a savior, but I didn’t owe her shit.
“You killed him,” she whispered but wasn’t no smoke behind it.
“You always knew I would if he had to go.” I told her without an apology or no other explanations.
She stood silently for a few seconds. Underneath everything else about her, she was a woman who’d learned to shoot and to survive but it was her who chose not make use of her skills and to love a man who didn’t love her back the way she wanted me to.
That made her dangerous in ways I respected and hated at the same time.
“You want me to pick an answer like it’s a menu?” she asked. “This is my life Dom.”
“You got until tomorrow,” I muttered. “That’s the cut off, and you decide tonight whether you wanna pack or stay. If you try to play both sides, you don’t walk away from it. I promise you that.”
Dique had this smirk on his face. “You got all the time in the world, fine ass muhfucka you.” He winked. “Don’t get caught slippin’.”
She hissed and rolled her eyes at Dique. I watched her hands shaking but she tried to play it off.
“Will you let me grieve?” she asked after a long minute. Right now, she was choosing to show vulnerability.
“You grieve on your terms,” I said. “Not outside, not in front of my people. Keep that shit private. Being weak in public might just cost you.”
She nodded her head and took a deep breath. “And if I do choose to leave, will you make sure they don’t bother me?”
“If you leave clean, you stay clean,” I said. “If you stay, you behave and survive.”
She swallowed hard. “You ever think I wanted anything else?”
“I don’t think about that.” I told her truthfully while keeping my voice mellow. This wasn’t personal, this was business. Time was ticking and we had to go. I couldn’t stand around doing this back-and-forth with her and I didn’t plan to. I’d spoken and that was it.
“Tonight,” Dique added. “If she bounces, she bounces clean.” He said to me.
She looked at both Tone and Dique, then back at me. She was a female in love with me and still held a grudge for a man I put down. That was her contradiction. I respected honesty even when it was ugly.
“I’ll think on it,” she huffed with a straight face sounded exhausted.
“You got till tomorrow, don’t let the sun catch you without a decision,” I said again and those were my final words. I stepped toward the door, and my people scanned the hall first while I ran the empire with a closed hand fist.
Dique flashed his gold teeth at Victoria. “We gon’ check on business,” he said. “You call if you need anything.” His tone was ruthless and taunting.
I didn’t look back when I left because I never did.
The elevator closed on our reflections and as soon as we stepped out, Miami swallowed us back up.
Tone had one of the drivers to take him home before Shona started tripping and me and Dique hopped back into the Bentley and slid out the garage.
Dique was in the passenger seat scrolling his phone, his chain gleaming loud against his hoodie.
He had on that same grin that always meant it was either trouble, or a female involved.
“Yo’ you know we supposed to pull up on ma dukes and pops so might as well do that now. I need to pull up on Keondra and Amour, I told her we comin’ to get them,” he told me. “I’m ready for them to meet them, shit might as well… ain’t no need in hiding what they already know,” he explained.
We pulled into Keondra’s block in Aventura.
The street was damp, and her house stood out with the fresh paint, and new car in the driveway that she probably barely drove.
The security posted up just like I ordered.
Two of my people leaned against one of the trucks, with their heads on a swivel, wearing black tees.
When we rolled up, they straightened immediately, and I simply nodded at them.
Keondra opened the door before I even killed the engine.
She looked… different. Like a cleaner, grown version of herself.
Her hair was done in a long sleek ponytail, and she had on light makeup.
Her nails matched the polish on her toes, and the long dress she wore stopped at her ankles but hugged every curve tightly.
It had Carmen’s influence all over it and I liked it. It was much better.
“Look at this shit,” Dique said, leaning forward with his voice full of mischief. “Man, somebody done turned my lil baby mama into a first lady.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling hard. “Don’t play with me, Dique,” she said, locking her door behind her. “Carmen came through and said I gotta start lookin’ like money if I’m gon’ be attached to y’all crazy ass last name.”
I chuckled under my breath. Carmen was changing her already, and you could see it. That confidence hit a little different when you started believing you belonged.
Then a small voice called out from behind her. “Daddyyyy!”
Amour came running, with her ponytails bouncing, and little purse slapping her side, with her Minnie Mouse crocs lighting up with each step.
Three years old and already had her daddy wrapped around her finger.
Dique’s whole demeanor changed when she ran into his arms. He scooped her up like the world could end and he’d still choose her first.
“What’s up, mamas?” he said, kissing her cheek as she giggled before looking at me. She didn’t know me that well, but she knew exactly who I was because Keondra made sure of that. She showed the girl pictures constantly even before we knew she belonged to us.
“Hi Uncle Dom,” she cooed, turning toward me with a wide smile that could melt anything cold in me. Damn, I thought.
“Hey baby girl,” I said, holding out my hand. She smacked it with a tiny high five and then leaned her head on Dique’s shoulder like she always did.
Keondra locked up and joined us at the truck. My men opened the back door for her like she was royalty. She hesitated for a second, still getting used to this life. The way she looked around half proud, and half overwhelmed told me she was still processing what came with being under our name.
“You ain’t gotta be nervous,” I told her, motioning for her to get in. “You family now. Just act like it.”
“I’m good,” she replied, sliding in with her chin held high. “Just ain’t used to all this attention. Y’all be actin’ like this some presidential shit.”