Chapter 1
Chapter
One
Marz Lewis
Several Years Later
My father’s gaze penetrated me through the mirror.
It was like seeing an older version of myself staring at me.
Often, my father looked at me with pride.
Today, there was unsurety and a little disappointment in his eyes.
Regardless of how disappointed my father may have been by the choice I made to follow completely in his footsteps, I respected the fact that he knew there was nothing he could say to stop me.
Mercury, better known as Merc, wasn’t just my father.
He was truly my role model and my first best friend.
The man had completely changed his life around by my seventh birthday to ensure he could provide a prosperous and safe life for me, so I could only imagine how frustrated he was watching me go down the same path as him.
Some things were in your blood as a man, and protecting people was in mine.
In ours. The problem wasn’t me protecting people though.
It was the fact that I was an enforcer too.
That meant I wasn’t just defensively taking the lives of others.
Sometimes, I had to take a life offensively, before they even became a threat.
Sighing, I turned to face him as he stood in the center of my bedroom, hands cupped in the center of him.
His head was tilted, body solid, showing exactly why he was still that nigga.
One who still needed to be feared. Getting older hadn’t slowed my father and his brothers down at all.
If anything, age and wisdom only made them more unfuckwithable.
While the bulk of them were no longer into illegal things, Beethoven and Karrington were still leading their family mafias with pride.
“Pops,” I started, and all it took was a motion of his head for me to sit down on the edge of my bed.
“When you asked me to convince ya uncle to let you operate as an enforcer within his organization, we agreed that was a one-time thing. Then you shifted from working under Beethoven’s organization to Karrington’s, and we approved.
I knew it was important for you to get a grittier training and knowledge that only the streets could provide.
It was going to help you personally and at the academy training as well.
How did we go from that to you wanting to do this shit permanently? ”
“It fits me better,” I confessed simply.
I knew that my father was a bodyguard and shooter when I was young.
Even with him trying to shield me from that, his reputation was solid.
Going legit and opening his training academy didn’t erase his history.
I respected him trying to provide a safe lifestyle for me, but his reputation still preceded him.
And Pops had always been an honest man, so when the whispers about who he was and the lives he’d taken circulated around my school, I asked questions... and he gave answers.
“Running the academy is cool, and I’ve enjoyed training people over the years, but it doesn’t fit me, Pops.
Not like being an enforcer does. The closest I get to feeling how I felt working under Toe and Karrington is when I’m taking on bodyguard clients.
I guess I prefer the action and not just training. ”
“I understand and respect that,” Pops said, sitting next to me. “I’m trying to figure out why you have to be an enforcer. If it’s action you want, why not take on security or bodyguard jobs? You gotta be an enforcer in somebody’s mafia, Marz?”
Sighing, I shook my head. I knew he was genuinely trying to understand where I was coming from, but I felt like I didn’t have a deep answer to give him.
Not one that would make the decision make sense to him.
My parents had given all their children the opportunities and privilege to do whatever we wanted to do with our lives, so it wasn’t like I was forced to run The Force Training Academy. It was my choice.
I’d been running it for the last five years since Pops retired, and the plan was for me to run it until Neptune was ready to take over, or until I wanted to do something else with my life.
Currently, Neptune was training our students full time, and I handled all the day-to-day tasks of management.
Here and there, I took on clients to feel like I was doing something that meant more, but I was tired of carving out months at a time to devote to protection.
I wanted to do it until I couldn’t do it no more, and it just so happened that I wanted to do it in the underworld.
“I’on know what you want me to say, Pops,” I confessed.
“I love that shit. Training other people is cool, but it doesn’t excite me or drive my passion.
I love protecting people regardless, but it’s something about the mechanics of the mafia and the role I played for Toe and Karrington that feeds something inside of me that nothing else has. ”
“This is crazy,” Pops said with a chuckle.
“I worked hard as hell to get out the streets and start the academy so you wouldn’t be affected by that lifestyle, and here you go trying to dive right in.
Regardless of how safe I wanted life to be for you, you’re choosing danger. You understand that right?”
“I do. And I appreciate what you did for me and my siblings. I’m still going to run the academy, but if things play out well with this potential client…”
Pops nodded his agreement and released a long sigh. “Aight, little man.”
Chuckling, I stood and went back to the mirror to finish putting on my tie. The only time I dressed in a suit was for the initial meeting with a potential client.
“Pops, please. Ain’t shit little about me. You know that.”
“What I know is you’re my first born, and you’ll always be my little man. Even when yo’ ass is in your sixties and bald like ya granddaddy.”
That made me laugh, but I tried to cover it up by rolling my tongue over my cheek. His father had finally accepted the fact that he was losing his hair and shaved it all off. For a while, it looked like he had a damn frisbee in the center of his head because of his bald spot.
“I’ma tell Granddaddy you talking about him, old man. You gettin' on up there yourself.”
Pops sucked his teeth as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Still young enough to whup you and your brother’s ass on the court this weekend. Y’all still coming over, right?”
“Right,” I agreed. “I talked to Ariel and Merci this morning. They’re both available, so we’ll be over Saturday.”
“Aight, cool.”
We tried to have family day at least three times a month, but it was harder to do the older we got. The more responsibilities we had. Ariel was the second oldest child, but she was my sister from Pops and Aries. My other two siblings, Merci and Neptune, came from Pops and Neo.
I loved my mama with my whole heart, but our relationship grew distant the older I got.
She was the kind of woman who prioritized men above all until she was called out on that shit.
In the beginning, Pops did it, but eventually, he realized that made their relationship more difficult than it needed to be.
She did that with Ariel’s father, Omar, and he left them both and never looked back.
For a good little minute, Pops damn near took care of Ariel like she was his own until Mama married Hamilton.
Hamilton was a cool dude, but by the time they got together, I was over how she centered men and asked Pops and Mama Neo if I could move in with them.
They agreed with no hesitation, and though Neo never tried to take my mama’s place, she was the best bonus mom I could have.
She was the one that was there for me no matter what, even if it meant going against Pops when I went through my rebellious stage as a teen.
Neo might not have given birth to me, but she was my mama and always would be.
We made small talk until I was ready to head to my meeting, then we left the house.
After each of their kids graduated college, Pops and Mama Neo blessed us with seven figures and a home of our own.
Their only request was that we not move in one romantic partner after the next, and of course we agreed.
The only one of my siblings that was married was Ariel, and I didn’t see that changing no time soon.
Neptune had that true youngest sibling mentality, and beyond work and family, the man didn’t prioritize anything or anyone else.
Merci was cutthroat when it came to men.
She had too many solid ones in her life to play games.
And me? Well, the only woman I’d ever considered settling down with had walked out on me damn near a decade ago, and I hadn’t seen her since.
I meant it when I said Heir was my wife, and beyond her, no other woman was worth that title. Not yet at least.
I was a lil wild child back then, and I could admit I’d changed and matured since we met.
Honestly, I didn’t know if we’d vibe the same if we saw each other again.
All I knew was I wanted the chance to figure it out.
The day we met, I swore I heard God say that was my wife.
Maybe it was my own mind saying what I wanted to hear.
Either way, she made a lasting impression on me that night, and I didn’t think I’d ever forget Heir or the hours we spent together.
As we walked to my car, I couldn’t ignore the sadness in my father’s expression.
He would never tell me straight up that he didn’t want me to become an enforcer full time, and I respected him more for that.
He and Mama Neo guided me to the best of their abilities, but at the end of the day, it was my life and my choices to make.
I was the one who would have to deal with the consequences of the choices I made, but I also knew they could potentially affect them too.
“I trust your intuition, but I don’t trust this Iman nigga. Don’t be so blinded by the opportunity to work for his organization that you ignore the red flags. If anything feels off, leave. I retired, but you know I’ll turn this whole city red behind my boy.”
“Yes, sir. I know,” I agreed, giving him a hug.
“I ain’t burying you, and I ain’t making your mamas visit you behind no fucking glass. If you gon’ do this shit... stay dangerous.”
Gritting my teeth, I inhaled a shaky breath as he released me. “I will.”
His eyes watered as he squeezed my shoulder for a few seconds before he brushed his nose, nodded his head, and walked away. I couldn’t imagine how hard this was for him, but it meant a lot to me that he’d finally accepted what I wanted to do.