Dominic Royal #2
“I was scared!” She repeated in a hushed tone.
Her eyes had a mixture of fear and pride.
It was that look as if to say I don’t want to die, but I’m ready if I have to.
“I thought if I told you, it would make it worse.” Her throat started to tighten.
“Or you’d really kill me just because. You’ve gotta believe me.
I’m not a fool. My uncle kicked me out of the family and will only have me back if he can once again use me to his advantage. I will never betray you for him!”
The receptionist saw what was happening, locked the spa door, and placed a ‘break’ sign on the desk before she minded her business heading to the back making it clear that she wanted no parts in this.
Dique walked up and reached out to touch my shoulder. “Man, what you want me to say? She scared. I hate to say it, but I believe her lil fine ass.” He said licking his lips with a slight smile on his face.
“Not now Dique, get the fuck on.” I growled giving him that look. Victoria never broke her glare, but she refused to drop a tear.
“You gon’ kill her?” Dique asked ignoring me. “Don’t kill her man.”
Dique didn’t usually give a fuck about painting the floor red so the fact that he believed her, I made the executive decision to let her ass breathe another day.
I finally removed my grip from her neck.
She may be useful one day, but useful can also be risky.
Killing women wasn’t never easy but it’s a fucking necessity when it’s a liability.
I took one last look into her pretty ass eyes and let her go. She immediately used her own hand to massage her red neck. “Don’t make me kill you Victoria… the best thing you can do for yourself is stay alive.”
“Dom,” she said barely above a whisper once again.
“I didn’t tell him a damn thing about the anything because there is nothing for me to tell anyway.
Everything is hidden from me and even if it wasn’t, I’d still never tell.
I didn’t even tell a soul here after it happened…
I just left early and that’s it.” She looked at me like I was the judge and the jury.
It’s funny how a women could make you feel guilty for being a man of action… not me though.
“You know what that white rose meant?” I asked. She nodded. “It’s a message. He’s trying to put fear in me and make me believe that he could touch any one of us easy.”
“Please just let me prove myself,” she said like she was begging. I still saw that look in her eyes… Victoria wanted me to be hers; she was just trying to play it cool.
“You almost made me have to do somethin’ I really don’t want to do, but I damn sure don’t mind,” I muttered in a low tone.
I didn’t have shit else to say to Victoria, she swallowed hard like she was waiting for me to say something else, but it wasn’t shit else to be said.
“Go back to work.” I told her before walking away.
I then told Tone to put double shadows on the spa and keep the cameras on rotation. I told my spa manager to wipe her feeds and change the DVR timestamps, so the clip looked like a glitch if anyone else found it. We then left like we were never there, all armed and dangerous.
Security was already doubled, even on our parents’ house, every Royal business, and every spot we touched had eyes on it with soldiers at the doors, trucks circling blocks, and even Keondra’s place in Aventura had shadows parked up and down the street.
Nobody was to move without my word. Dique’s phone rang while we was sitting in the back of the Escalade, back rolling.
He rolled his eyes before answering, and I already knew it was Keondra just from the way his looked.
“Ay, here go the drama,” Tone muttered from the backseat, already laughing.
Dique smirked, hit speaker, and leaned back in the seat with his arm dangling. “What’s up, baby mama?”
Her voice came through loud enough to make the truck speakers vibrate.
“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me! Why I got three big ass niggas at my door like I’m movin’ bricks out the crib?
Huh? And why the hell did they follow me to Publix?
I can’t even get no groceries without somebody trailing me like I’m Beyoncé or somethin’! ”
Tone busted out laughing, clutching his stomach. “Not Beyoncé! That’s a reach Keondra.”
“Shut up, Tone!” Keondra snapped, somehow hearing him in the background. “Dique, I swear, this shit is too much. Your people all in my business, standin’ on my porch like I ordered Uber Eats. My neighbors lookin’ at me sideways, and I ain’t even unpacked my house completely yet!”
Dique rubbed his temple, trying not to crack up. “First of all, shorty, you begged to be a Royal so bad. Kept sayin’, Dique the daddy, going live and shit about ‘the Royals.’ Well, welcome to the damn life. Security come with the package. You wanted the perks, now you got the problems too.”
“I didn’t ask for this much, though!” she argued not denying the accusations that she was indeed doing the most. “I just wanted my baby daddy to help me with his daughter. I ain’t sign up for no feds in the yard lookin’ ass situation!”
Tone was laughing so hard, his ass was wheezing in the backseat now. “She said feds in the yard. My nigga I’m dead!”
“Y’all think this is funny?” she snapped. “’Cause I don’t. I can’t breathe without somebody clockin’ me. I took Amour to the park, and one of your little soldier boys was pushin’ her on the swing like he the damn daddy!”
That did it… it took a lot to make me laugh but even I cracked a grin, though I kept it small behind my shades. I didn’t order them niggas to do all that.
Dique was straight up laughing now. “Oh yeah? Did she like it? I bet she did. ’Cause that’s what real protection look like.
Our daughter gon’ be guarded at all times.
Get used to it, Keondra. Ain’t nobody touchin’ her, period.
You think I care about your lil’ neighbor side eyes? They can kiss my ass. My child safe.”
She huffed so loud the speakers crackled. “Ugh, you so damn aggravating. Put Dom on the phone, since you think this cute.”
That wiped the smile off real quick. She was Dique’s headache, not mine but somehow, I always ended up playing baby daddy or peacemaker. Both Tone and Dique turned to look at me. I took the phone and remained silent for a few seconds before I spoke. “Yeah Keondra?” My voice was flat, yet stern.
“Heyyy, Dom. Look, I was just sayin’, all this extra security is blowin’ me.”
“Keondra,” I cut her off. “Don’t ever call again complaining about protection.
Not when it’s about a Royal child involved, you hear me.
I don’t give a fuck if you feel watched, uncomfortable, or embarrassed.
That little girl gon’ be covered every second of every day.
You don’t like it? Go back to the hood, she’s stayin’ though. ”
“But…”
I didn’t raise my voice, because I didn’t need to.
“You wanna go back to payin’ two hundred dollars rent on a Section 8 voucher?
You wanna be back in the hood with no soldiers, no security, nobody but randoms walking past your door knowin’ you got ties to us?
‘Cause that’s what it sound like. Otherwise, shut the fuck up and let my men do their job. ”
Silence.
Tone muttered, “Checkmate.”
Keondra finally huffed again, sucking her teeth but softer this time. “Fine, whatever, but they better not be pushin’ my baby on no swings like they her daddy again. That’s your job, Dique!”
Dique snatched the phone back, laughing so hard he almost choked. “Girl, bye! You so pressed. Don’t worry ‘bout who pushin’ her on swings. Just be glad it ain’t Blanca’s people pushin’ you in a ditch.”
Tone was dying in the backseat, slapping his knee. “Man, she gon’ drive you crazy before Blanca do.”
“Um excuse me, Blanco who?” She quizzed sounding confused.
“Don’t even worry about it, crazy ass girl.
I’ma call back later.” Dique ended the call, tossed his phone on the seat, and let out a loud laugh that echoed through the truck.
“Man, I swear, Keondra got me weak as fuck right now. Talkin’ ‘bout my soldiers out here pushin’ the baby like it’s a daycare.
She don’t even get it… she’s livin’ better than she ever did in her life and still complaining. ”
Tone wiped his eyes, still cracking up. “Bruh, I can’t stop picturing one of the hittas on the monkey bars wit’ the baby like, ‘Don’t fall, lil’ mama, Uncle got you!’”
Dique hollered, slapping his thigh. “Facts! And she mad about it! If she knew how many bitches in Miami would kill to have that kinda security, she’d shut the fuck up.”
Tone leaned forward between the seats. “She wanted that ‘cartel wife starter pack’ so bad, now she got it. Guards, cameras, black trucks, the whole nine. What she thought it was gon’ be, a muhfuckin’ Disney movie?”
I let them talk that shit for a second, but my patience was short. Their laughter filled the truck, bouncing off the leather, but my mind was still on Victoria’s face on that camera feed — wrists zip tied, cloth over her mouth, the look in her eyes when they shoved her into that van.
“Enough of that shit,” I said.
The truck fell silent again, and not from fear but from that understanding: when I said it, it wasn’t just talk. Tone cracked his knuckles while Dique grinned, showing all teeth and gold. I leaned back, cool as ever, already in my head.
I nodded slowly letting the hum from the engine fill the silence for a second before I spoke.
“We get through Ramon’s funeral clean. Show our respects front row and then handle business.
After that, every last corner of this city gon’ get turned inside out.
El Blanca thinks he can send roses and shit but he’s about to find out. This shit is about to be over.”