Chapter 17
“So, no one got any information out of him?” I asked the street crew as we sat inside the basement of one of the trap houses.
There was a total of fifteen of my father’s top soldiers present.
Each one of them oversaw every county my father ran in the metro area.
I wanted to give them a chance to get to Mont, since they were in the field, before I called on the twins.
I knew what calling them would mean, but since the street soldiers were only able to get to the nigga responsible for taking the shipment, it proved they couldn’t get the job done and over with quickly.
There was also the fact that somebody in this room with us had a hand in the robbery.
One of them knew something.
One of them was about to die tonight.
“He wouldn’t talk. We tortured him for hours,” Reno spoke up.
“Nigga wouldn’t say a word,” Chaz followed up.
“Then you should have tortured him for a few days, not for hours. Eventually, he would have talked. We lost two loyal soldiers behind this, and I’m really side-eyeing you niggas,” Mo spoke.
“Wait, we had nothing to do with this,” Corey replied.
“You speak for everybody now, my nigga?” Mike asked him.
Corey swallowed air. “Only the ones I know for sure wouldn’t betray the fam.”
“Exactly… so you’re not speaking for everybody in here then. I’m only going to ask one time… Which one of you niggas tipped Jerrod to the shipment?” I asked, looking around the room at them.
Everybody began to throw out denials, as expected, but I already knew exactly who it was.
“Everyone, leave the room except for Donnie and Jovon. The rest of y’all are on temporary leave until we find this motherfucka, and our product!”
“Si—” Donnie tried to speak before I cut him off.
“Be quiet, my nigga. Saying my name ain’t gon’ save you.”
“Messiah, we didn’t have anything to do with what went down. Why is it that we’re being punished for it?” Clark asked.
“A wise man once told me that it’s one band, one sound, my G. Y’all get together and politic every two weeks, yet, didn’t see the snakes amongst you?”
“I didn’t?—”
“Didn’t he tell you to shut the fuck up!” Mike yelled, giving Donnie a blow to his ribcage.
He curled over as Mo delivered the same to Jovon, who had been quiet.
“Leave us,” I told the rest of the crew as they all filed out of the basement. I reached inside my waistband, pulling out my Desert Eagle, sending a bullet through Donnie’s hand.
“Ah, fuck!”
I looked at Jovon. “Give me a name.”
“I don’t know, Si. I swear, I don’t! All I know is Don told me to come with him to meet Freeman. I never made that deal with him because I was in the whip the whole time.”
“Motherfucka! Yo—Oof!”
Another blow to his ribcage shut Donnie up. “Say another word, and you’re going to die sooner than you think.”
“Did you know who Freeman was when y’all went to meet up with him?” I asked Jovon.
“Not until after a couple of days… right before the shipment was scheduled to come in.”
“You knew that and decided to withhold that information?”
“I told Ben what went down with Donnie. That’s why Donnie killed them right after the shipment got took. They were about to snitch on him.”
I looked at Donnie, who was sneering at Jovon. “I see…” I nodded.
Without hesitation, I sent a bullet through Jovon’s skull. Blood and brain matter splashed against the back wall as his body dropped to the floor.
“Fuck, man! Come on, Si! You know I wouldn’t rat you out, man! Don’t do this!” Donnie pleaded.
“Give me a name.”
“Fuck! Lamont Logan, man! He’s the one who approached me about the hit. They were going to kill me—” I put my hand up to silence him.
Lamont Logan. Also known as Mont was the culprit. As I stood putting two and two together, I felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Arieana’s last name was Logan. She was a hitter. She told me her father was in prison, and it could only mean that she was the daughter of Lorenzo Logan.
Fuck.
I lifted my gun, delivering the same fate as Jovon to Donnie.
“This is bad, man,” I voiced.
“What you mean? These niggas deserved this shit. Now we need to go handle Lamont. Since we got a name, I know Harv can pull up his info,” Mo said.
“He’s Arie’s uncle, Mo,” I revealed.
They were silent for a moment, possibly thinking about what this would mean for me if I had him taken out.
“I mean… How much you care about her?” Mike asked.
I looked at him with a straight face. “A lot.”
“Do you think she fucks with him like that?”
“She was close to her father, so I’m sure she’s close to him too.”
“What shorty don’t know won’t hurt her. I know y’all been tied at the hip lately, but it’s not like you’re the one pulling the trigger,” Mo noted.
I shook my head as I dialed the cleanup crew.
It didn’t matter if I was the one pulling the trigger or not; I’d still know what happened.
I’d still be a part of it because I was going to be the one who ordered it.
This was why I knew my father should have stopped this street shit a long time ago.
This part of the game wasn’t worth the fucking risk of losing someone I cared so much about.
But it was business, and her uncle had violated.
It was out of my control at this point. Lamont took some shit that didn’t belong to him and had our businesses slowing up because he wanted to be greedy. And greed gets you killed in this profession.
“I’m about to go holla at Papi. Y’all stay and let the cleaners in,” I stated after allowing the silence to linger.
“You about to tell him we out, right?” Mo asked.
“Yeah, scary ass. Could have stood on your own and told him.”
“You’re better at delivering our news, big bro. He won’t listen to the little niggas in the camp.” He shrugged.
“Yeah… Right,” I replied, climbing the basement stairs.
“Son. I assume you got some good news for me?”
“If this name I’m about to drop is good news, then yes,” I told him and took a seat in the chair in front of him.
“Names are always good news,” he replied.
“Lamont Logan.”
He paused from sipping his drink while staring ahead. He scoffed and chuckled before looking at me. “I knew that bitch nigga was going to be a problem. I should have offed his ass a long time ago.”
“Yeah, well, that’s now a problem for me.”
“How so?”
“I’m dating his niece.”
“Oh, really? Seems as if you may have to cut that off then, huh?”
I frowned. “It ain’t that simple, Papi.”
“It’s just that simple. What do you think is going to happen once she finds out that you had a hand in murdering her family? You think she’s going to suggest that you all get married the next day? Think about this, son.”
“I have thought about it. If she happens to be upset about it, then I can do nothing but accept whatever comes after that. And since we’re on the subject of murder…
Mo and Mike want out of the street business.
As their father, I believe you should accept their request and put someone else in their place. ”
He laughed. “So, they send you in their place to speak for them?”
“They did, and that’s only because you don’t respect them as men—leaders.
You have never allowed them to make their own decisions when it comes to both our legal business and street business.
You chose their positions for them and expect them to always rise to the occasion.
They have done that, and they are tired now. ”
“Lies. They have always had a say in what they wanted to do?—”
“Not true, Papi. They only listened and did what had to be done because you’re their father.
Same with me. I always had to do the most. ‘Look out for your brothers, take care of your sisters, don’t let your brothers or sisters do this or that.
’ It’s why they are all comfortable with coming to me about everything. ”
“Wow… That really sounds fucked up when you put it that way, but your mother and I have never forced the responsibility of taking care of them on you. It’s natural for the oldest to take on more responsibility than the others. I’m not saying that it’s right, but it’s how life is sometimes.
“If they don’t want to be in the street business anymore, I’m fine with that. They can go. Just let them know that they need to choose someone to stand in their place.”
“I mean this with all due respect, Papi. Let the streets go . You’ve been at this thing since GrandPapi handed you and Uncle Raylon the business. You have more money than you know what to do with, so please… tell me why you want to continue risking your life and freedom for a quick dollar?”
“He’s right, Papi.” I turned my head to see Madisyn walking into his office. “I can’t say if it’s true or not, but lately… I’ve been feeling as if someone’s been watching me.”
“It’s the security detail I have on you. All of the women in my life have daily surveillance.”
Madisyn sighed. “Papi, why would you do that without letting me know? You could have gotten those people killed.”
“Maddie, you’ve had a security detail since you were in pull-ups. I didn’t let you all know because I wanted you all to move freely—comfortably.”
“Not knowing makes it uncomfortable, Papi. It’s dangerous,” my sister responded to our dad before turning to me. “Hey, Si.”
“’Sup, Mad Dog.”
“Trying to understand your crazy father.” She shook her head, walked over to my father, and took his drink out of his hand, swallowing the rest. “Mommy has told you a million times how uncomfortable she is about you trying to be Gotti still. Let those other criminals take over the streets. You have a whole Fortune 500 company, and you’re getting old.
Leave it alone, Papi.” She kissed his cheek, walked over to me, kissed my cheek, and then left the room.
Rarely did my sister talk. Being the fourth oldest, she often stayed to herself or hung out with Piper and our mother, mostly. For her to speak on this situation meant everyone was at their breaking point with the illegitimate side of our operations.
“Well… I guess I didn’t realize how tired you all are of the extra expectations I’ve placed on you all. I’ll leave it alone completely. I’ll hold a meeting with the crew and choose someone myself.”
I nodded. “It’s for the best.”
“Yeah… As for you and this girl…”
“I’m not leaving her alone, Papi. I’ll take whatever comes my way, but I care about her too much to leave her alone. I’m sure she’ll never know who it will be, anyway.”
“You better hope not.”
My phone vibrated with an incoming text from Arieana. I opened my messages app to a photo of a neatly shaved pussy with a text that read: We miss you.
I smiled and texted back.
Me:
On my way.
“A’ight, Papi. I love you. I’ll talk to you later.” I stood and quickly left the room.