5. Jeovanni
CHAPTER 5
JEOVANNI
I ran my hand over my black dress shirt as I walked into Tony Waldorf’s home. The house was nice. It wasn’t quite as big as me or Jovani’s, but it was a nice size in a very affluent neighborhood. Tony didn’t just make his money from representing clients. He took bribes and laundered money. The moment I entered Tony’s home, a woman wearing a black shirt and black slacks welcomed me with a smile and offered me a glass of champagne. As I thanked her, the door opened behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Jovani walking in.
“What up, twin?” we bumped fists, and he took the champagne that was offered to him.
We were led into the living room where Tony was laughing and talking with a judge by the name of Myron Stokes, a doctor by the name of Slater Massey, a real estate agent, Chen Lowe, and a police officer by the name of Andrew Mills. I could tell from the glazed look in Tony’s eyes and the way he kept pinching his red nose that he was high off coke.
“Twins!” He held his arms open wide and looked between me and my brother. “Jeovanni raise your hand. I’m going to have to get you two name tags.”
Everyone laughed. I chuckled. Tony was cool. I didn’t have anything bad to say about him, but I was never one hundred percent comfortable around him and his associates. Lawyers, doctors, judges. They were all corrupt, but something told me that if shit ever hit the fan, they’d make sure their asses were covered. They had power and connections. They would be on me and Jovani’s team as long as they didn’t have a reason to be against us. If shit ever went down, I had no doubt in my mind that they’d say fuck us to save themselves. But having dirt on them and being in the same rooms as them could be a good thing for me and Jovani.
Just like if we ever needed a lawyer, we could call Tony. In the event that we ever ended up in front of a judge, as long as we made sure we could get Myron, shit would be smooth. Along with PJ and Andrew, they could help to ensure that we never made it in front of a judge because the charges shouldn’t stick. If we had to entertain them, give up some coke here and there, and smile in order to have them in our pocket, I didn’t have an issue with that.
“Let’s eat gentleman,” Tony rubbed his hands together. “I can’t wait to share my newest business venture with you all. I have found a way to become very rich, and if you all want in, it will not only help things to run smoother, but it will line your pockets very nicely,” he assured.
Though I knew I couldn’t sell drugs forever, and I had plenty money saved, prior to knowing about my sons, I didn’t have an estimated date for retirement. I knew I could be out of the game by thirty and be more than okay. Technically, I didn’t need another source of income, but what could it hurt? By the time we made it to the kitchen, my glass was empty, and it was promptly taken from my hand and replaced with another.
The large table in the dining room had enough chairs to seat ten people. I walked to a chair at the end of the table knowing Jovani was going to sit beside me. The moment we were all seated, servers came over and placed plates of salad in front of us. After taking a large sip of champagne, I set the glass on the table and said my grace unlike the other men around me. I was sure Tony didn’t have an appetite because he was full off coke. There was a proud look on his face as he sat back in his seat. He waited for the staff to clear out before he sniffed and cleared his throat.
“Gentleman, I just got rid of a shipment that put $525,000 in my pocket. One that I didn’t have to pay up front money for not to mention getting the shipment from Houston was easier than taking candy from a baby. Getting the items to the person purchasing them was even easier. If we can move five to six shipments a month, we can all be filthy rich. We can create a system that moves like a well-oiled machine, and we’ll never run out of product. I don’t have the manpower to do it alone. That’s where you all come into play.”
My interest was piqued because I already made a hell of a lot of money selling coke. If he was talking about drugs, I wasn’t sure I wanted to tap into another market. I wasn’t too good to take $525,000 but I already had a hustle that put way more money than that in my pocket and kept me quite busy. As far as cocaine, Jovani and I had Ausnor Beach and all surrounding cities on lock. Even without us getting our hands dirty, it was a full-time job to make sure things ran smoothly. Still, I was interested in hearing what he had to say.
“Never run out of product?” Myron asked. “And what would that be?”
A slick grin spread across Tony’s face. “Women.”
I frowned. Women?
“I’m confused,” Slater spoke up. “You spoke about products and shipments. The product is women?”
“Fuck yeah the product is women. I have Russians, Italians, and even Germans that want women. It’s called sex trafficking my friend. And the money is endless.” Tony laughed as if he’d just told a joke. “Three German guys paid me $35,000 for each woman I gave them. Women that were easier to find than uncut heroin. Beautiful women that were attempting to seduce men for the love of a dollar. Since they didn’t mind giving up the pussy for the highest bidder in strip clubs, massage parlors, and even out on the streets, I decided to grant them their wish. Now they can give up all the pussy they want.”
“What the fuck?” I heard Jovani mumble underneath his breath.
Tony’s sick coked out ass was out of pocket for real. He was talking about kidnapping women and selling them. I didn’t give a damn how much I loved money, that was something that I’d never take part in. The shit was sick. A woman could do what she wanted with her pussy. Whether she wanted to sell it or give it away for free, it didn’t mean a thing to me. There was no way in hell I’d ever be a part of holding a woman against her will and forcing her to do anything. I couldn’t believe this man was a lawyer, and he was presenting the idea to judges and doctors and shit.
“How do you get the women?” Slater asked as I put my fork down. Just that fast I lost my appetite.
“Like I said, these are women that lack morals anyway. I have guys that scope out strippers, prostitutes, run aways. Immigrants are the best because no one will miss them anyway. Find good candidates and simply snatch them up,” he shrugged passively.
“Run aways?” I finally found my voice. “The only people that run away are kids. You snatching up kids?” I kept my tone even, but I was ready to knock his ass out.
“I wouldn’t call them kids. These days there are sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds doing things that would put women twice their age to shame.” The sick bastard was still smiling. “I even take babies.” My trigger finger itched as Tony clarified. “Babies are a hot commodity on the black market. There are plenty of couples that want children that have wasted thousands on fertility procedures and have been waiting forever to adopt. Find the perfect baby for the perfect couple, and you can get as much as $100,000.”
Jovani started to say something, and I nudged him. I was one hundred percent confident that he felt the same way I did, but it wasn’t time to voice any concerns. We were in a room with some well connected people, and I wanted to see just how many of them were okay with Tony’s proposition. I wanted no parts of it, and I was confident that Jovani didn’t either. But being hot headed and telling Tony how sick he was wouldn’t help us in the moment.
Andrew rubbed his hands together. “You made $525,000 off one shipment? Sign me up, shit. I’d be able to pay off my house and leave the force in the next year seeing money like that. I’m down. I don’t give a fuck what I have to do.”
It took every ounce of restraint that I possessed to keep a straight face. I wanted to knock everyone sitting at the table aside from my brother out. I wasn’t the most upstanding citizen in the world, but I drew the line at a lot of damn things. The men around me that were eagerly awaiting the details of Tony’s human trafficking ring disgusted me, and I wanted to put a bullet in all of their heads.
“Jeovanni, Jovani, what do you two think?” Tony eyed me with a cocky smirk. He couldn’t force us to do shit, but the gleam in his eyes was almost like he wanted us to challenge him. Maybe he could sense that we weren’t with it. And I damn sure wasn’t. But playing along might get me the leverage I would need in the end to take his sick ass out.
Passively, I shrugged my shoulders. “It is what it is. If you have a system in place that works, I could always use some play money.” I was sure to let him know that I was never thirsty for $525,000. I could make that shit with my eyes closed. No matter what kind of positions the men in the room held, Jovani and I were far richer than any of them.
Tony chuckled lightly and directed his attention toward everyone else. I’d never been so ready to leave a place in my life. As I sat attempting to force down my food, it felt like my skin was crawling. Tony talked about how he had a few scouters as he called them, in Miami at the moment. They were driving a U-Haul and had been instructed to bring back no less than fifteen women. His reason for telling us was that he wanted to expand. He wanted women coming in on a weekly basis. As long as he could find buyers, he was willing to get them what they wanted. Some buyers had specific requests. They wanted certain nationalities, ages, appearances. The more he talked, the harder it was to keep the frown off my face.
“Jeovanni, Jovani,” Tony always spoke to us as one which was annoying as hell. “Do the two of you think you could hit Atlanta or maybe North Carolina and find some women?”
I flicked the tip of my nose and attempted to keep my temper in check because he hadn’t asked any of the other men present to go and get women. I wasn’t a fuckin’ scouter, and my brother wasn’t either. Before I could respond, Jovani did so.
“We look like some scouters to you? We make millions right here in Ausnor Beach. Fuck we look like going to kidnap some bitches? I haven’t done grunt work since I was a kid.”
A fake smile spread across Tony’s face. “My apologies,” he bobbed his head once. “I have Russian buyers that I was going to connect you with. You don’t have to go get the women yourselves. If you can arrange their pickup, you will be compensated all the same.”
“We’ll see what we can do.” I spoke up.
I had to down another glass of champagne in one gulp to make it through the rest of Tony’s dinner. Jovani and I were the first to leave.
“Bro, what the fuck was that?” he asked as soon as we were out of the house. “Those muhfuckas are sick as hell.”
“Yeah they are,” I glanced towards the house. “We have to stay cool though and figure out how to deal with this shit. I’m not trying to go up against an entire ring of sex traffickers. In fact, I really should mind my black ass business, but this is fucked up. I don’t know what we’re going to do right now, but Tony isn’t shit for this.”
“Just keep me posted. You know I’m down for whatever.”
None of the men in Tony’s circle knew too much about me and my brother’s business. All they really knew was that we sold coke. But a lawyer, police officer, and a judge were the wrong people to have on my bad side with the profession that I had. Jovani and I would have to handle Tony and his associates very carefully, but they were going to get handled if I had anything to do with it.
* * *
Three days after meeting with Rainah, I had calmed down. She must have had super powers and been able to sense the shit because she asked me if I wanted to come by her grandmother’s house and meet the boys. I had just replied to her text message when Celine sauntered into the kitchen. When she saw that I wasn’t going to fold or kiss her ass, she got her mind right. We hadn’t been out in a minute, so we were having dinner later on. She had a lash appointment and a massage in the meantime.
“I’m about to head out in a few.” She walked over to me bringing along the scent of her favorite perfume. Celine locked her arms around my neck and pecked my lips.
I peered into her face wondering if I should break the news to her now or at dinner. I knew she would be pissed. In fact, I was almost certain that it wouldn’t end well, but after some pondering, I figured there was no sense in putting it off.
“Why you looking at me like that?” her perfectly contoured brows hiked.
“I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?” her eyes darted nervously across my face, and I sighed.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and tried to find the right words. Celine was working my nerves constantly talking about marriage, but I did love her. I wouldn’t be with her if I didn’t.
“Just tell me what it is, Jeovanni.”
I could hear the anxiety in her tone. “I recently found out that I have sons. Four-year-old twins.”
Celine stepped back with a look of horror etched on her face. “What? Twins?” she spit the word out as if it was poisonous.
“There’s this chick. We grew up on the same street. We were always just friends until about three weeks before she moved to Charlotte. We had sex quite a few times. She found out I sold drugs, and she walked away from me. I hadn’t seen her, and we hadn’t spoke after that. Until recently. She moved back to Ausnor Beach and Jovani actually saw the twins first. He came to me telling me they looked just like me. I tracked her down, and she confirmed it.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.” Celine looked like she was on the verge of tears.
“You know I wouldn’t play about anything like that.” My tone was low. Apologetic. Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. “I’m just as shocked as you. Pissed and shocked. I had no clue.” My grip on her waist got a little tighter.
“Jovani just says some kids look like you, and you believe him? You trust her? I hope you plan to take a paternity test.”
“I can take all the paternity tests in the world. If my twin brother says the kids look just like me, I’m going to believe him. And I’m really the last choice that Rainah would choose for the father of her kids. She’s a lawyer, and she’s been through some shit. She hates drug dealers. So pinning kids on me that aren’t mine wouldn’t make sense.”
“Are you defending her?” Celine looked at me as if I’d sprouted another head.
“Defending her? No. Telling the truth? Yes. I had to threaten to take her to court to get joint custody of my children. What sense would it make for her not to just tell me they aren’t mine if they weren’t?”
Celine crossed her arms over her chest and clicked her tongue. “I’m not good enough to marry, but I’m supposed to do what? Play stepmother to some kids that I didn’t even know you had?”
I already knew that Celine was a brat, and she wouldn’t receive the news well. I was making the effort to be patient with her, but I knew the more Celine kept talking, I would only end up pissed off. “Who’s asking you to play stepmother, Celine? I haven’t even met my kids yet.”
“Your kids,” she threw her hands up in exasperation. “I’m just supposed to accept this?”
“If you don’t you might as well leave out that door and never come back,” I answered truthfully. “What do you want me to do? They’re my kids, Celine.”
“What about me?!”
“Why are you so fucking selfish?!” I roared. “I just found out about the kids not too long ago. You should know me well enough to know that I’d never be a deadbeat. What else can I do besides be there for my kids? I’m not asking you to assume any kind of responsibility for them, but you can’t be with me and not fuck with my kids. Type of shit is that?” I frowned.
“I’m just supposed to accept that this random bitch gave you sons already? What about me?” she cried as tears spilled over her eyelids. “I was supposed to have your kids.”
I stood up and pulled her into me, so I could comfort her. Celine was dramatic as hell, but she felt how she felt. “If we get married and have kids, I won’t love them any less because of the order they were born in. Work with me, Celine. This is new to me the same way it’s new to you.”
She sobbed into my chest for all of two minutes before she stepped back and wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I need some time to process this.”
I scratched my braids that needed to be redone. I got my hair done every eight or nine days. “Of course.”
I refused to beg Celine to accept my sons. If she decided that she didn’t want to be with me because I had kids, then she would be making my life easier. I didn’t have time to force anyone to fit into my life. I didn’t do it with Rainah, and I wouldn’t do it with Celine. She grabbed her things and left my house, and I did the same so I could go meet my sons. I wasn’t sure if I should come bearing gifts, but then it dawned on me that I didn’t even know what they liked. I shook my head at the realization. Shit was crazy.
I had to chuckle because I was lowkey nervous to be meeting them. My ass didn’t have a lot of experience with kids. When I arrived at Ms. Nixon’s house, I saw Rainah’s car parked in the driveway. I also saw her sitting on the porch while two identical twins ran around in the yard. My heart swelled at the sight. They both had their hair in braids, and they were dressed alike. It was like watching a flashback of me and Jovani playing. Twins. I had twin sons. I swallowed hard and emerged from the car.
The boys stopped running and both looked over at me. The one closest to me looked up at me with wide eyes and a slightly slack jaw. His head whipped over his shoulder as he glanced at Rainah, and she gave him a comforting smile.
“You’re my dad?” he asked in awe once his focus was back on me.
I crouched down, so we were eye level. “I am. My name is Jeovanni. What’s yours?”
“Jason.” He beamed proudly. “You look like me.”
That got a chuckle out of me. “I think you look like me. And guess what?”
“What?”
“I’m a twin too. I have a brother. Your uncle, Jovani.”
“What?” Jason screeched like I had just told him the coolest thing in the world. “Jordan,” he looked over at his sheepish twin. “Our dad has a twin brother!”
“What’s your name?” I asked as if I hadn’t just heard it. I wasn’t sure if he was simply shy or skeptical of me. He inched closer and stood beside his brother.
“Jordan.”
My eyes darted back and forth between them. “Now let’s see,” I mumbled while studying their features. “How can I tell you two apart because you look like you like to trick people. And I’m not trying to get tricked.”
The boys giggled as I continued to pour over their faces. I couldn’t believe as I studied them, I damn near became emotional. The various emotions flooding through me were overwhelming. On one hand, I was grateful to Rainah for such a gift, but on the other hand, I was pissed with her for depriving me of almost five years with my sons. I didn’t even know when their birthday was.
“Okay Jordan has this tiny scar by his eyebrow,” I pointed out. “And Jason, you have a birth mark on your cheek.” I referenced the small patch of skin that was much lighter than the rest of his skin.
The boys appeared impressed, and I winked at them. “Did I miss this year’s birthday? When do you boys turn the big five?”
“Next week,” they beamed answering in unison.
My brows hiked. “Next week? Seems like I’m just in time.”
The fact that every comment I made caused the boys to light up made my heart pump a little harder. I had fuckin’ kids. It took me less than twenty minutes of being in their presence to tell that Jordan was the more reserved one like me, and Jason was the one that would challenge you and stress you out just a tad. He was Jovani’s nephew for sure. I couldn’t wait for my brother to meet them. Even though I had threatened to get a lawyer involved, I was going to attempt to play nice with Rainah.
The first visit being supervised was fine. But I had so much that I wanted to do with the boys and people that I wanted them to meet, that I wanted to be able to pick them up and spend time with them unsupervised. The way they were smiling and clinging onto my every word, she couldn’t deny the fact that they appeared comfortable with me.
I sat outside and talked to my sons for almost two hours. When I hugged them goodbye, it was dark out. The only words that I had spoken to Rainah was to ask her if I could pick them up from school the following day, and she agreed. I was going to give Celine some time to deal with her emotions and come around. If she decided that she couldn’t accept my kids, then that would pretty much be the end of us. I didn’t grow up with my father, and Rainah only had hers for ten years. That shit stopped with us. I was going to be in my sons’ lives. I didn’t care who didn’t like it, and I dared anyone to try and stop me. That included their mother.