Wedding Bells #5
“It’s my pleasure to serve you. Let me know if you need anything else.
My name is Matty. If you need anything,” She nodded toward the cutely designed doorbell that sat at the end of our table, which was a way to call for service.
I appreciated that they wouldn’t hover around and would only come by if our drinks needed to be filled.
“Do you mind if I ask you questions?” I was ready to get back to business now that we’d gotten the formalities out of the way.
Faith put down her glass before nodding. “By all means. If I feel it’s easier to just tell you, I have no problem injecting.”
“How did any of this come about?”
“The group has several branches. The tree has always been sound but sadly my branch started to wither.”
“Wither?”
“My grandparents’ generation started several art galleries—”
“Great way to launder money—”
She paused and seemed impressed with my lack of morality over what she’d confessed. “Especially when they’re all just forgeries or a front for a forgery business.”
I nodded again remembering everything that Ori had told me about his family.
“What was the problem?”
Faith seemed surprised that Ori had shared that tidbit with me, but she continued.
“Technology made it easier and easier to find out what was real and what wasn’t. Carbon dating, tests… all of that was something that was making it harder to turn the type of profit necessary to have a conglomerate like ours continue to see you as an asset and not a liability.”
“You all couldn’t innovate?”
My curiosity was piqued because I came from a family that fled a war-torn country and had made something of itself. Well abo had. My mother was a vapid, over-consuming waste of flesh but his success made up for her lack of it.
“When you have people who actually want to work it’s not hard to find a need and fill it. Especially not in the shadows we live in.”
“I’m guessing your family weren’t the salt of the earth type of people?”
Her eyes crinkled reminding me of her son and a feeling of longing hit me squarely in the chest. I had to shake it off because something as ridiculous as emotions weren’t about to cloud my judgement.
Haven’t they already?
Faith’s eyes hardened. The pain her family caused still a living thing despite the time that had passed.
“Hardly. The people that we are connected to, they’re not what some would call good but they’re moral.
They do far more good to outweigh what some would consider the bad.
But many people wouldn’t see them that way.
The mafia is European so it’s romanticized.
The Yakuza is seen as exotic so it is, too.
The same with the Bratva and every major European kingdom still in existence.
It all takes from many to hoard for self and does minor good deeds for the masses for PR. ”
“So that’s what this is like?” ‘Cause I was now rethinking a lot. The whole point of getting me involved was to help people, not join the ranks of the predators.
Fatih’s smile was so full of pride I felt immediately settled again.
“No, baby, we’re Black. We’re seen as the worst of the worst just because of that.
No one focuses on the good that drug dealers did back when there was a moral element to what they did.
Now that it’s purely capitalism and greed driving their moves no one is winning. ”
“So you all want to sell drugs?”
Faith released the tension in her face slightly.
“No. That was a soapbox of my own bitterness. My family’s problem is that they got comfortable being at the top of the food chain.
People might not know the Consortium by name but they understand when they hit a brick wall and can’t move the way they want to.
We are that wall. We only allow you to know who we are and what we do when we deem you necessary.
If you never reach that level of importance, you don’t get your way.
If you want to go around the protocol then you’re exterminated without question. ”
“That easily?”
She bit her lip uneasily but I knew she wasn’t going to condemn the tactics used and that intrigued me.
“We haven’t existed for longer than our people had legitimized freedom to end up on someone’s radar.
With the type of wealth that flows through our six families and the branches beneath us, the wealth of several large nations would be in jeopardy if anyone tried to take us down. ”
“I notice you say us a lot. Not them. You’ve been gone for twenty years and yet you still speak fondly of something that apparently cost you everything you loved.”
She shrugged and I don’t think she noticed that when she spoke of power she spoke of them but when she talked about work, the real effort that was needed to make all of this function she included herself.
“It’s ingrained in me. And I could never blame the Consortium as a whole for what happened with me and my husband.
He wasn’t the right type of person to partner with.
I needed to learn the ropes of the business because I’d been kept away from so much of it.
My friends Safi and Babette tried but I felt intimidated. ”
“Why?”
Her eyes lowered a fraction as if she felt shame for what she was about to admit. “I wasn’t like them. Never raised to be in this life and frankly my father resented the fact that he had to put me in this position after my older brother died and had no kids.”
“Not a warm and fuzzy kind of family?”
“No. My father was a happy misogynist and saw women as pawns. That’s why he transitioned the family into what he did.”
“Which was what?”
“The skin trade.” Faith said it so bluntly I was gobsmacked.
I wasn’t a prude but there was no way she’d said what I thought she had. “I’m sorry?”
“Sex. Porn. Peep shows you name it and he had a hand in it all. He ran the red-light district on the East Coast and had one of the largest Black-owned sex studios.”
I tried my hardest not to show how surprised I was at the revelation but it was nearly impossible. “That doesn’t seem like something the Consortium would abide.”
I didn’t know any of these people for sure but seeing the caliber of man that Ori was and the way he spoke about his friends, I couldn’t imagine this group welcoming someone who would do something that was so close to being morally reprehensible.
“They hated it. But you can’t interfere with someone else’s business unless they’re bringing the wrong type of attention to the group.
That wasn’t the case with us so they had no choice but to stay out of it.
” She sounded disgusted and it was clear this was the part of her family’s legacy she didn’t like.
“I’ve heard the way Ori speaks about the sons and daughter of these families. He has respect for them and I can’t imagine him respecting people who would be so milquetoast with a family messing up.”
“This generation is better than mine was. They’re bonded. Ours had fractures that were evident for a long time but we tried to forge ahead with life and not do more.” The wistful look was again on her face and I wondered if she felt like a failure.
“Do you regret it?”
“No. Everything played out the way it was supposed to. I don’t mean it religiously just that we’ve all ended up where we should’ve been, mostly. Some of us didn’t fare the way we should’ve.”
“To whom are you referring?” The sadness that seemed bone-deep wasn’t for herself. She wouldn’t afford herself that type of grace.
“The head of the families, the Benoits. They didn’t get to live to see their daughter grow up. Their son was thought dead and it wasn’t until recently that the kids were found.”
“So you all are not as untouchable as you think.”
“Sadly no. We’ve had deaths. All of them untimely and all happening to good people. Three in my generation alone.”
“Half the families?”
“Just two. The Benoits were married and then a friend of mine, Pope was murdered.”
These people were her family. It was obvious from how she looked and the sadness etched into her features that they were truly missed.
“Oh, so just a third of the families were touched by violence. And you married someone that you hated. This isn’t really looking too good for your case.”
“I have no case.”
“You don’t?” I’d assumed she wanted to convince me to accept her son but I was surprised at her refusal.
“I don’t need to convince you of something that your mind was set on before you arrived.” Her smile was slick and knowing and I was shocked at the ease in which she’d made her assumption about me.
“Why would you—”
“No woman grills someone about a life she has no desire to partake in. Your curiosity shows your commitment. And don’t insult me by saying you’re naturally curious because you’re not.
You couldn’t handle Ori and not have a strong sense of self.
Arrogance even. If there’s something you don’t know you won’t take someone else’s word for it; you would figure it out on your own.
Your inability to put up a wall shows me that this conversation is personal and not hypothetical.
Morbid curiosity wouldn’t have you concerned for your well-being if this wasn’t a life you wanted to be a part of.
” Faith looked content with her assessment and finished her champagne before pouring more.
“And when were you going to tell me that your family owned this place?” It was too easy to change the subject than to fess up to anything that she’d said. I felt exposed and wanted to return the favor.
“Peeped that did you?” She smiled holding her champagne flute near her face tickled that she’d thrown me off but gracious enough to keep her gloating to herself.
“I did. First, the two of you look a like and the ease in which you let me order was more about your confidence in the food being good rather than appeasing me. Which means you know them or you’ve been around for much longer than we know.
” She wasn’t the only person who could make observations and she smiled to show there were no hard feelings.
“I haven’t lived in DC.”
“I’m sure you haven’t. But that wouldn’t stop you from popping in and out. To check on things and people.”
“An assumption?”
“No. Your eyes light up whenever you say his name. No matter how badly you would’ve wanted to, resting on the sidelines would’ve been impossible for you even in the worst of situations.”
The server came over placing the massive amount of food I’d ordered on the table. She left but I knew before the meal was over I’d be having her sit down so I could figure out her familial connection with my soon to be husband too.
“You can tell how I feel about my son just by how I look?”
“It’s not like you try to hide it.”
“Can I give you some advice?” Her tone was hesitant, as though she was concerned it wouldn’t be well received.
I wiped my mouth with my napkin because I hadn’t hesitated to dive into the food on the table. “Of course.”
She toyed with her flute before mustering up her courage and speaking her piece. “Your poker face isn’t nearly as good as you think it is. I’d prefer you to be open with him but I get you want to guard yourself. If you both stop being afraid maybe you’ll stop needing them.”