Chapter 4
KASTIAN
I walked into my office and found Ryder waiting for me.
He texted me before my meeting and told me he was stopping by.
My receptionist was made aware that if he arrived before the meeting with my realtors was over, he could wait for me there.
With Ryder I never knew if he was stopping by on business or personal shit.
We didn’t talk anything illegal over the phone.
Just like I had my real estate company and brokerage firm, Ryder owned a protein bar.
Customers could go in and get a variety of protein shakes, smoothies, protein bowls, healthy snacks, and various supplements.
He also owned a pet grooming business. Both his businesses did well.
People didn’t play about their damn dogs and anytime he went to check on the business, he always seemed to run into some gorgeous woman that was coming in to get her dog groomed.
There wasn’t a shortage of beautiful women that patronized the protein bar either.
Ryder had come a long way. He wasn’t one hundred percent faithful, but I could give the man credit for trying. For the most part, he put his whorish ways to the side, and he was trying to be a better man for Tesha. Well, fucking strippers in his car aside.
“What’s going on fam?” I rounded the desk and took a seat.
Eye contact with Ryder put me on high alert. Sitting up straight, I braced myself for bad news. As stressed as he looked, I was willing to bet money that we had to go kill somebody. “What is it now?” One thing about running a drug empire was that it was too close to running a damn daycare.
Being responsible for insane amounts of drugs and the knuckleheads moving the product was no easy task. Raising kids had to be easier than running a criminal organization. Ryder sat back and flexed his jaw muscles.
“Tesha left. She didn’t take all her things. Just some clothes, shoes, bags, and everything she needs for work. What’s worse though, is I logged into her computer and checked her email. She got approved for a loan to buy a house. She’s leaving me and buying a fucking house.”
I was never one to sugarcoat shit with my niggas, but I didn’t want to be insensitive in the moment.
Ryder thought he had all the time in the world to stop cheating.
More than once, I told him that when a woman gets fed up for real, the consequences would have a nigga’s chest hurting.
I’d never experienced it, but I’d seen it a few times.
My parents were a perfect example. My mother left my father and was pregnant by the next man three months later.
That man ended up being my stepfather, and they were still married.
“What happened? Y’all had a fight or something?”
Ryder shook his head. “That night I got in from the club, she was up and wanted to have sex. My dick wouldn’t get hard, and no matter how much I tried to blame it on being drunk, she wasn’t buying it. I think when I went to sleep, she went through my phone.”
All I could do was shake my head. I told his dumb ass. “She didn’t confront you about what was in the phone?”
“Nope. I got up that morning, and she was already gone. I assumed she was at the gym. She waited until I left then came back and got some stuff. She didn’t yell, scream, or cry. That’s how I know she’s done for real.”
“Damn man,” I mumbled.
“I fucked up,” he chuckled regretfully. “Go ahead and say I told you so.”
“There’s no need for all that. You feeling how you’re feeling is enough. I don’t have to rub it in.”
Ryder pushed out a dejected sigh. “Bro, fuck,” he sat back and shook his head.
I’d known Ryder since middle school. Meaning, I’d known Tesha for as long as they’d been together.
I liked her and often referred to her as sis.
Anytime Ryder cheated or she suspected him of cheating, I hated feeling like she was giving me the side eye.
Of course, she didn’t expect me to be more loyal to her than my friend, but I hoped she didn’t think I encouraged his cheating.
There was never a time he did dirt or spoke about doing it where I didn’t let him know he was wrong.
That was all I could do. Ryder was a grown man, and I wasn’t the dick police.
“Maybe she just needs some time to cool off, and she’ll be back.” Ryder gave me a yeah right look. That was all the smoke I was willing to blow up his ass.
My trap phone rang, and I eyed it contemplating whether or not I wanted to answer.
With each passing day, I was ready to give selling drugs up.
My businesses made me more than enough money to live comfortably.
At that point, I was being greedy collecting drug money like it grew on trees. Finally, I decided to pick up. “Yo.”
“Vic is locked up, boss. This is Lee.”
My nostrils expanded. “Locked up for what?”
“He got pulled over last week, and he had a gun in the car. Ballistics came back, and the gun was used in a double homicide. There’s no way he did that shit because the homicide occurred a year ago.
He’s only had the gun for a few weeks. Police went to his grandma’s house with a warrant and damn near broke her door off the hinges. ”
My entire body tensed with anger. He got the gun two weeks ago after I got a shipment from David.
A shipment of what was supposed to be clean, brand-new guns.
I didn’t want one of my best workers in jail for crimes he did commit much less something he didn’t.
There would be no bond with a double homicide.
So, he would sit. Until something or somebody made the situation right.
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll be in touch.” Without waiting for a response, I ended the call.
Ryder could probably feel the heat coming off my body. That was how pissed I was. He stared at me as I grit my molars together. He had to be curious, but I was so upset that I couldn’t even speak right away. I felt like a pit bull. My entire jaw was locked from the fury flowing through my veins.
“Vic is locked up.” Finally, I parted my lips and delivered the news.
“Fuck. What did he do?”
“Got caught with a gun that has two bodies on it.”
“Are you serious?” Ryder scowled. “I know he’s not that dumb to be holding onto a gun that has two bodies on it.”
“The murders happened a year ago. I got the shipment from David two weeks ago. The guns he sold me apparently aren’t new.”
“Oh that nigga has a death wish,” Ryder sat up and leaned forward. “You bought like five crates of guns from him. What if Vic’s wasn’t the only one with bodies? He violated.”
My head bobbed. “He has something coming for sure. Being accused of two bodies is serious shit. He’s not going to be able to get out on bond.
Somehow, David is going to make it right.
And he can start by reimbursing me for every gun in that weak ass shipment.
” I had purchased more than $20,000 worth of guns, and one of them was dirty?
Being a meticulous thinker was something I’d always prided myself on.
Rarely did I ever make brash decisions based off emotions.
I would take the time to sit and think things through, but it was extremely hard.
I wouldn’t be buying anymore guns from David, but he had to right his wrongs, and I wasn’t taking no for an answer.
I didn’t care what he had to do in order to get Vic home.
I sat back in my seat and let the wheels turn in my head. I had to come up with a plan quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Thoughts of how to make David pay for his carelessness or his griminess, dominated my mind.
Revenge consumed me. I had no desire to kill him.
Unless he refused to cooperate. The next day, I walked into my kitchen and picked the remote up off the island to turn the television on.
Having breakfast and watching the news was generally how I started my mornings.
I grabbed some strawberries out of the fridge and began washing them.
More than likely, I’d do a quick, simple breakfast of oatmeal and fruit.
I had a very good and very expensive lawyer on retainer for situations like the one Vic found himself in.
Mr. White was as strait laced as they came.
I could look at him and tell he was one of the smartest kids in his class.
Straight nerd up and down. He was good, but I wasn’t sure if he was a miracle worker.
Time wasn’t of the essence. I trusted that Vic was solid as much as I could trust another man.
Technically, he got the gun from me. In an effort to keep my name out of niggas’ mouths if they got jammed up, I preferred they come to me when they needed new guns versus buying them off the street. David had fucked all that up.
I promised myself that rather than trying to figure things that were beyond my control out, I’d just focus on the things that I could do.
One of those things was getting Mr. White on the case and the other was getting at David.
I texted him from my burner phone and told him I needed to meet him at my warehouse.
Any illegal business that I did was kept far away from my office and my home.
I had two warehouses. One was on the outskirts of town, and that one held drugs and guns.
The warehouse in town housed things I needed for my businesses.
Signs, business cards, promo items like pens, coffee mugs, and tee shirts.
Nothing illegal was ever stored there. So, that was where I had meetings that didn’t require the exchange of drugs or guns.